“It’s easy to sit here and eat, but think what it’s like to look out on the auditorium and sing,” Placido Domingo quipped Sunday night to the chairman of Deutsche Bank’s Group Executive Committee, Josef Ackermann.

Mr. Ackermann was being honored at the 20th annual “On Stage at the Met” gala, a gathering of corporate supporters, founded by Cecile Zilkha, which has raised a total of $27 million for the Metropolitan Opera, including a record $2.4 million this year.

After cocktails on the terrace of the opera house, nearly a thousand guests walked down the aisles of the auditorium and very carefully climbed temporary staircases, which transported them onto the stage. There was hardly any reason to look back on those empty red seats, because the scenery was utterly captivating: murals by Marc Chagall, which he created for “The Magic Flute,” a production of the Metropolitan Opera’s second season in its new opera house, in 1967.

Eventually, guests settled to dinner at round tables covered by gossamer cloths of pink with green polka dots, and decorated with towering candlesticks and floral centerpieces matching the rich red hues of the Chagalls with roses, tulips, and other flora.

It was a glorious scene and a glorious time. Everyone seemed in good spirits, having spent the afternoon outdoors: Susan Nitze was at a bridal shower in a field of daffodils, Carol McFadden had been in Southampton playing her children, and Victoria Thomas was playing tennis in Connecticut.

The three-course meal by Glorious Food started with salmon and spinach mousse, progressed to rack and loin of lamb, and had a very grand finale with baked Alaska, made with cappuccino, chocolate, and pistachio ice cream – one of the catering company’s signature desserts.

The sweetest act, however, was the singing by Mr. Domingo and Renee Fleming, who performed a duet from “The Merry Widow.”

Ms. Fleming voiced the sentiments of most guests when she said, “I tried to talk them into giving me a piece of one of the Chagalls – 20 feet maybe.”

Others who went to the stage included the chairwoman of the Metropolitan Opera, Christine Hunter, and its general manager, Joseph Volpe.

Catering to the audience of corporate titans, Mr. Volpe speculated about taking the Met public, suggesting “snazzy new names” for the enterprise: “Metco, or even better, Metop.com.” Mr. Volpe’s real point, though, was to laud the chief executives in the room for their commitment to the arts.

“Long-term relationships with the corporate world are vital to all cultural institutions and are essential to the making of a better society,” he said.

As part of its thanks for Deutsche Bank’s more than 20 years of support, Mrs. Hunter presented Mr. Ackermann with an 1895 daguerreotype of Puccini, framed with fabric from a gold curtain that once adorned the opera house.

Mr. Ackermann affirmed Mr. Volpe’s vision of corporate enlightenment. “We must commit ourselves to these institutions,” he said, “and let me also say that no city in the world represents that commitment better than the city of New York.”

It’s a busy week for those corporate moguls who are opera lovers. Tomorrow night at the Metropolitan Opera’s gala for the opening performance of “Faust,” the chairman and chief executive of U.S. Trust, Alan Weber, is to serve as corporate chairman.