Opera star fails to storm male bastion

Caballe revered in native Barcelona

The world-famous Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé has failed in an attempt to join an exclusive all-male club based at Barcelona's Liceu opera house.

Monserrat Caballé, along with nine other prominent local women from the world of business and the arts, failed to secure enough votes to be admitted. Three men who applied at the same time were accepted.

The decision is a severe blow to the woman described as Spain's greatest living soprano.

Caballé: Revered in Barcelona

In a nail-biting vote, the women secured 60% of votes in favour, but they needed a further 5% to win the two-thirds majority needed for membership.

Montserrat Caballé and her female companions will have to wait five years before they can apply again.

The club, El Circulo Del Liceo, was founded as an all-male organistion in 1847.

Under Spain's equal opportunities legislation, it was forced to change its rules earlier this month to allow women to apply for membership .

More than 300 members took part in the vote and counting lasted well into the night.

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.

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