The Cass Tech High School choir had made its New York debut.

The past four days of sightseeing and nervousness no longer mattered. They were performing for a packed house at the world-famous Carnegie Hall.

When it was all over Monday night and with a standing ovation behind them, the students spoke of shoulders and feet that went numb while they were standing for nearly an hour.

Jared Brown, ajunior, went around the room hugging people, exclaiming, "We did it! We did it!"

Jermaul Davis, a junior, said, "There was so much hype about this, now I can finally say we did it. We performed at Carnegie. It was overwhelming."

Earlier in the day, as the bus drove south on Seventh Avenue past Carnegie Hall, taking the choir to dress rehearsal, the students were struck by what they saw.

Exclamations of, "That's it?" and "That's not what I expected!" rang out in reaction to seeing the block-long brick auditorium with scaffolding and construction laborers working on the side.

"Wait until you see the inside. You're going to eat your words," said choir president Rachel Edwards, a senior who has visited the city.

What the Detroit students didn't see was the front of the building, with its massive flags, ornate steel overhang and a 6-foot marquee announcing the night's performance. Atop the list of performing choirs was the Cass Tech Concert Choir, followed by a list of the others who were to make up the mass choir singing with the New England Symphonic Ensemble -- seven choirs of mostly high school students from Texas and Tennessee.

The Cass Tech students' talent for singing gospel and classical music had the congregation at Convent Avenue Baptist Church in Harlem on their feet Sunday, waving their arms and shouting "Hallelujah! Sing, children!"

Faith brought the students to New York: MidAmerica Productions, which sponsored the performance, believed in their talent. Donors and Detroit's WJLB-FM (97.9) believed funding problems should not keep the choir from Carnegie Hall. WJLB-FM broadcast a fund-raiser that brought in thousands of dollars for the students. Teachers like Henry Cabanne, a chaperone, believed the teens needed to see New York because "education is about expanding their horizons."

The choir believed it would rise to the occasion because it knows the two classical pieces -- in Latin and German -- well.

But no matter what anyone believed, this was New York, not a welcoming church audience or a group of peers who marveled at a spontaneously arranged version of "Wheels on the Bus Go 'Round and 'Round."

In the crowd were savvy New Yorkers who paid $30 to $75 to see the concert. The vast auditorium meant the students probably couldn't spot those gussied-up Cass Tech parents like Jacqueline and Trevor Collins, who drove 12 hours in hopes of spotting their child on the world-famous stage.

After intermission, their families became easily identifiable. People from Detroit, Texas and Tennessee waved arms and flashed cameras despite a sign prohibiting electronic devices.

Hours before the performance, a few singers began to fret.

Edwards let out a long rant because most of the other students in the 170-person mass choir didn't have on their tuxedos and gowns for dress rehearsal. She said the fact that the Cass Tech students were the only black choir would mean any mistakes would make them stand out more.

"They're going to laugh at us. Dress rehearsal doesn't mean dress. This is so embarrassing," she said as other students reassured her that it was no big deal.

Elliot Johnson, a music management major from Wayne State University and one of two 2001 Cass graduates who made the trip, said, "I understand what she's saying. We have to know our stuff because I'd hate for anybody to go home and say, 'Those black kids didn't know the music.' "

Cass choral director Cheryl Harden arrived by taxi, wearing a fur and black dress lined with delicate rhinestones. Her usual luster had a dusting of fatigue from three days of keeping track of giddy teenagers and extinguishing sporadic bickering and whining.

She was going to join the soprano section of the choir with permission from the conductors. She sang at Carnegie Hall when she was a senior at Spelman College in Atlanta.

The antsy choir students filed into the stage risers about a half-hour later and got their first look at the reds, beiges and golds that adorned the auditorium.

Four tiers of parallel balconies jutted over the orchestra-level of seats, which were covered in a red velvet-like material. Small spotlights above the stage were arranged in an oval, and the arch over the stage was encrusted with golden leaves, intricate flowers and sun shapes.

John Paul Johnson, director of choral activities at Southwest Texas State University and the guest conductor for Mozart's "Coronation" mass, one of the two songs the mass choir was to perform, stood before the silenced teenagers and swung his arms out. Johnson, a bald, goateed conductor whose style combines the energy of a wound-up cheerleader with the wit of a stand-up comedian, said, "Look at all these tiers. Check out the lights. Check out the ceiling and all the seats. Take a look at the archway. OK. Now that you've got that done . . . there is no such thing as nerves at this point. Choir, stand up please."

The music for Beethoven's "Choral Fantasy" was in German but includes the English interpretation. But the much longer piece, the "Coronation," was in Latin. As they read the lyrics from a book during the performance, the students knew the overall meaning, but not the exact interpretation.

But Stefanee Morrison,the only freshman in the Cass choir, said the group's performance would make clear they knew the meaning in their hearts.