Benjamin Britten coast close to Britten's homeland, awakened in him such longings for England that he knew he must return. He also knew that he must write an opera based on Crabbe's poem about the fisherman Peter Grimes. Before Britten left the US, Koussevitzky, always generous in encouraging new talent, offered him a $1,000 commission to write the opera. Britten and Pears returned to England in April 1942. During the long transatlantic sea crossing Britten completed the choral works "A Ceremony of Carols" and "Hymn to St Cecilia". The latter was his last large-scale collaboration with Auden. Britten had grown away from
NI Opera McKay, Conor Mitchell, Ed Bennett and Christopher Norby, together with new libretti by writers including Mark Ravenhill and Frank McGuinness at the new MAC theatre in Belfast, in the company's latest collaboration with the Ulster Orchestra. The production was directed by Rachel O'Riordan and designed by Gary McCann. These new works travelled to the Southbank Centre in London in July 2012. In July 2012 the company produced another opera by Benjamin Britten, "Noye's Fludde". This site-specific production was performed in Belfast Zoo in August 2012, before travelling to Beijing as part of the Beijing International Music Festival in October 2012,