Benjamin Britten village of Snape, six miles inland, became available for hire, Britten realised that the largest of them could be converted into a concert hall and opera house. The 830-seat Snape Maltings hall was opened by the Queen at the start of the twentieth Aldeburgh Festival on 2 June 1967; it was immediately hailed as one of the best concert halls in the country. The hall was destroyed by fire in 1969, but Britten was determined that it would be rebuilt in time for the following year's festival, which it was. The Queen again attended the opening performance in 1970. The
David Temple David Temple David Temple MBE is a British conductor and musical director of Crouch End Festival Chorus and Hertfordshire Chorus. He has conducted at the Barbican Centre, Royal Festival Hall and Symphony Hall, Birmingham, Royal Albert Hall, Sage Gateshead, The Roundhouse, Snape Maltings and St Albans Cathedral. He came to London in 1972 and joined the London Philharmonic Choir where he sang as a tenor under the chorus master John Alldis, performing with conductors including Boult, Stokowski, Solti, Haitink, Tennstedt, Barenboim, Giulini and Rattle. In 1984 he began his work with the newly formed Crouch End Festival Chorus. As chorus