 The following year saw the opera's Canadian premiere, conducted by John Avison, staged during the 1960 Vancouver International Festival in Christ Church Cathedral.During preparations for the first German performance of "Noye's Fludde" in Ettal, planned for May 1959, the problem of the scarcity of handbells became acute.Britten suggested that in the absence of handbells a set of tubular bells in E flat in groups of twos and threes could be played by four or six children with two hammers each to enable them to strike the chords.