Opening night at New York City Opera carries a lot of weight around town. For years it has been the first social event of the fall season, which turns out to be both a privilege and a burden.

“It’s lonely, being first, rallying everybody right after Labor Day,” the opera’s president, Mark Newhouse, said on the promenade of the New York State Theater, which – just as the event kicked off at 5:30 p.m. – was pretty empty.

By curtain time, an hour later, more than 700 guests were hugging and kissing, drinking and nibbling, and showing off tuxedos, gowns, and jewels that hadn’t been worn in months.

“They love to be here, they love to get back,” one of the city’s social powerhouses, Susan Newhouse, said.

The good cheer was also typical of New Yorkers who know the show must go on in the wake of tragedy. This year guests had to contend with the recent destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina, as well as the upcoming anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001.

“I told my son when I got here, the one thing I want to do is go to City Opera,” a New Orleans resident, Eleanor Monaghan, said. Ms. Monaghan escaped from her home last week, eventually made it to Houston, and arrived in New York on Saturday without an opening-night outfit. She improvised with new shoes and a scarf. (She’d been wearing Nike sneakers, and the soles had come off.) Her escort to the opera was her son, William Monaghan, a City Opera board member.

The opera lovers indeed pulled through Wednesday night. One reason: The event marked the 10th anniversary of Paul Kellogg’s tenure as general and artistic director of the innovative opera company. In recognition, Mr. Kellogg was serenaded by an aristocrat: Pamela Armstrong, the soprano who played the countess in the opera performed that evening, Strauss’s “Capriccio.”

The serenade was a surprise to Mr. Kellogg, but most of the rest of the evening was a comfortable return to familiar faces, gowns, and rituals, such as the beef supper and the goody bag. For many guests, City Opera’s gala is just one of several opening night affairs they’ll attend in the next several weeks, for the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, and Carnegie Hall.

What’s really starting City Opera’s season with a bang is its first Opera-For-All festival, presenting opera at $25 a ticket, last night and again tonight. The shows sold out in three days.

Last night, the folksy, downtown-cool Rufus Wainwright sang his own songs in between performances of excerpts from the New York City Opera season. Mr. Wainwright also attended opening night, with his mom, Kate McGarrigle, and a friend, singer Melissa Auf der Maur. “Capriccio” was Ms. Auf der Maur’s first opera.

“I wouldn’t go to the opera without Rufus,” she said.

Indeed, many New Yorkers in their 20s and 30s – a coveted audience for institutions like City Opera – might agree.

Mr. Wainwright should follow the example of the cultural philanthropists he spent the evening with Wednesday. Be generous. Be loyal. Bring your friends. And while you looked dashing in that mod suit, you’d look great in a tux.