The Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra is set to present the U.S. premiere of newly rediscovered “Divertissements” for “Nabucco” by Giuseppe Verdi on April 5, 2025.

The performance will be held at St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn Heights.

This will mark the first time that the piece is performed in the United States.

The ballet was composed for the 1848 French-language production of “Nabucco” at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. While it was known that the piece existed, the score was thought to be lost. That changed when an uncovered manuscript among Verdi’s preserved materials was found in the basement of his Villa Verdi in Sant’Agata. What survives are two fully orchestrated pieces—part of what is believed to have been a larger set. The piece was performed only once before in 2021 at Festival Verdi in Parma in a concert by the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna conducted by Roberto Abbado.

In a statement Philip Nuzzo, Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra’s Artistic Director and Conductor said, “Discovering a lost score from a great composer is always rare. Being able to have the Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra perform the US premiere of a work by Verdi, never heard here before, is a special moment for our players and myself. 175 years in a basement is a long time for a work to be hidden, but I am honored to be able to bring it to the US and even more special to premiere it here in Brooklyn.”

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