and Turin, while performances in 1845 were presented in Bologna and later, in the 1845/46 season, in Palermo and Mantua, in Macerata in the summer of 1846 and various other cities well in to the 1850s. Even in the late 1880s, well after Jérusalem had been given, it was presented in Florence. This "was the first of Verdi's operas to be heard in the United States, at Palmo's Opera House", on 3 March 1847 in New York. In the prior year the opera's British premiere had taken place on 12 May 1846 at Her Majesty's Theatre in London, Verdi having been invited there by the theatre's impresario, Benjamin Lumley: ".....I will go to London to write an opera" he had written, but in the end, illness prevented him from doing so. However, with Italy approaching unification in the 1850s and in the decade following it in 1861, I Lombardis call to peoples' patriotic instincts seemed to keep it alive, albeit that, by 1865 when Arrigo Boito saw a performance, he remarked that the opera was beginning to show its age. 20th century and beyond I Lombardi was presented in 1930 at La Scala in Milan as the season's opening production. I Lombardi was given by the Opera Orchestra of New York in a concert version under the direction of Eve Queler at Carnegie Hall, New York, on July 12, 1972. Soloists included José Carreras, Renata Scotto, and Paul Plishka. The opera was presented at the Royal Opera House in 1976 with José Carreras, Sylvia Sass and Nicola Ghiuselev as well as the same year by the Bilbao-based ABAO company. The cast included Matteo Manuguerra, Cristina Deutekom, Juan Pons, as well as Carreras. Carlo Bergonzi and Paul Plishka, along with Cristina Deutekom appeared in the San Diego Opera's short-lived (1979 to 1984) summer "Verdi Festival" in June 1979 and it is claimed that this was a West Coast premiere. Over the years, New York audiences have seen the opera presented first by New York City Opera in 1982. Six years later, I Lombardi was given by the Opera Orchestra of New York in a concert version with Aprile Millo in April 1986 and this was followed by the opera's Metropolitan Opera premiere on December 2, 1993, as part of its 1993/94 season, a production which starred Luciano Pavarotti, Aprile Millo (replaced in most of the other performances by Lauren Flanigan), and