Caballé fights male cabal

By Madrid correspondent Flora Botsford

The Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé is fighting for admission to the all-male opera club of Barcelona.

Caballé: Revered in Barcelona

The club's 1,000 members are voting to decide whether to include Miss Caballé in its membership.

Under Spain's equal opportunities legislation, the club has recently been forced to change its rules.

Montserrat Caballé has been described as Spain's greatest living soprano and is especially revered in Barcelona, her birthplace.

The diva trained at Barcelona's exclusive Liceu Opera House, where she has performed on more than 100 occasions in the past 30 years.

One opponent said he was worried the club would become a place for female gossip

She even donated more than $40,000 to help restore the building when it was damaged in a fire six years ago.

But one of the last bastions of male chauvinism in Spain is fighting to keep her out.

Dramatic finale

After 150 years of all male membership, the Círculo del Liceu Opera Club decided three weeks ago to change its rules, after complaints that they were in breach of Spanish legislation on equal opportunities.

Forty per cent of members voted against the change, but failed to have the decision overturned in the courts.

One opponent said he was worried the club would become a place for female gossip.

Miss Caballé needs to win two-thirds support for her application, and observers are predicting a nail-biting finish after polls close on Saturday.