How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, and don’t get an inflamed vocal chord.

It was a lesson that German bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff learned Wednesday, when inflammation of one of his vocal chords prevented him from performing at the opening night gala of Carnegie Hall’s 116th season.

Dorothea Röschmann, on loan from the Metropolitan Opera and given about eight hours’ notice, performed in his place. Instead of the scheduled selections from Mahler’s “Des Knaben Wunderhorn,” nearly 2,800 attendees listened to the arias “Porgi Amor” and “E Susanna non vien! … Dove Sono,” from Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro.”

Few in the audience were ruffled by the last-minute changes, which were handled deftly by conductor Franz Welser-Möst, who led the Cleveland Orchestra in performance. Attendee Arthur Franken said that he was most looking forward to seeing Ms. Roschmann perform.”Anyone who performs here is worth seeing,” attendee and gala supporter Adrienne Birnbaum said.

“Carnegie Hall’s opening night gala is a sensational and exciting way to open the season. Absolutely nothing like this exists anywhere else in the world,” the executive and artistic director of Carnegie Hall, Clive Gillinson, said.

“Our opening night is a time to celebrate the new season ahead as well,” he added.

A co-chairwoman of the gala, Laura Pomeratz, expressed the event’s role in bringing in new classical music fans. “It’s very important for attracting a broad range of listeners, from the most experienced to the least,” she said.

The concert marked the commencement of a new season, but hardly any of the patrons were newcomers to the organization’s cultural offerings. “Carnegie Hall holds a special place in my heart,” an anchorwoman for CNN, Paula Zahn, said in her introductory remarks. A cello player since the age of five, she made her Carnegie Hall debut with the New York Pops in 1992.”Tonight, I’ll save you from that,” she joked.

Though few could count a Carnegie Hall performance as a personal experience, other had fond recollections of the storied theater. “Right after 9/11, when Giuliani spoke, it was so touching,” Ms. Birnbaum said in describing her favorite moment.

A long-time patron of the institution, Donna Uher, said that a performance by the Czech Philharmonic was one that she will never forget. At the particular concert she attended, she said, the audience was clamoring for an encore.The conductor turned to face the guests, yelled “Bach!” and then promptly began conducting the announced piece.

“Carnegie Hall’s great history, reaching back to our original opening concert in 1891, featured the American debut of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky,” Mr. Gillinson said. “Ever since, opening night has always been a magical evening that we look forward to sharing with friends both old and new.”

Among the friends who gathered there were Barbara Walters, actor David Hyde Pierce, Ashleigh Banfield, James and Ellen Marcus, Bill and Pat Phalen, Robert and Claudia Amen, and Karl and Mary Ellen von der Heyden.

Many of the gala’s co-chairs also had the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their labor, with attendees including the chairman of Carnegie Hall’s board of trustees, Sanford Weill and his wife, Joan Weill, Clarissa and Edgar Bronfman, Jr., Karin and Klaus Jacobs, and Sid and Mercedes Bass.

“Carnegie Hall is as important as Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s,” said the chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Federated Department Stores, Terry Lundgren.

“It’s the perfect combination of music, culture and fashion,”said Mr. Lundgren’s wife, Tina.”What more could you want?”

One of the gala’s co-chairmen, Lester Morse, had a suggestion. “Let’s hope the dinner can live up to the concert,” he said, referring to the afterconcert fete at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

But others needed no additional nourishment. Referring to Carnegie Hall’s offerings at large, Ms. Pomerantz said, “It’s food for the soul.”

emala@nysun.com