Gerard Korsten conducts the Teatro Lirico Orchestra and chorus and Patrizia Carmine directs the performers Eva Mei, Alessandro Corbelli and Roberto de Candia. Old Don Pasquale wishes to marry and produce an heir, thus disinheriting his nephew Ernesto, who loves the merry widow Norina. Pasquale's physician Malatesta pretends that Norina is his sister 'Sofronia', and arranges a mock wedding to Pasquale. 'Sofronia' then proceeds to make Pasquale's life a misery.

Rimsky-Korsakov's opera, based on the Mongol army's entry into Kitezha and its subsequent unexpected survival, is here performed live at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari under the guidance of Russian conductor Alexander Vedernikov.