Walton then started to write more orchestral music: the Cello Concerto (1956), the Symphony No. 2 (1960), and the "Variations on a Theme by Hindemith" (1963). He started to have many honours: He was knighted in 1951 and received the Order of Merit in 1968. People liked his one-act comic opera "The Bear", when it was performed at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1967, and he was asked by people from all over the world for new music. His song-cycles from this period were given their first performances by famous singers such as Peter Pears and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.