page_title: Women in music
section_title: Classical music
hierarchical_section_title: Women in music / Singers / Classical music
caption_attribution_description: English: Soprano Kathleen Battle sings "The Lord's Prayer", Wednesday, April 16, 2008, during the arrival ceremony in honor of Pope Benedict XVI on the South Lawn of the White House. Español: La soprano Kathleen Battle canta "The Lord's Prayer" (en español: "El rezo del Señor"), el 16 de abril de 2008, durante una ceremonia en honor del papa Benedicto XVI, en el césped sur de la Casa Blanca.
context_page_description: Women in music describes the role of women as composers, songwriters, instrumental performers, singers, conductors, music scholars, music educators, music critics/music journalists and in other musical professions. As well, it describes music movements, events and genres related to women, women's issues and feminism.
  In the 2010s, while women constitute a significant proportion of popular music and classical music singers, and a significant proportion of songwriters, there are few women record producers, rock critics and rock instrumentalists. Notable women artists in pop, such as Bjork and Lady Gaga have commented about sexism and gender discrimination in the music industry. Additionally, a recent study led by Dr. Smith announced that "...over the last six years, the representation of women in the music industry has been even lower".
context_section_description: Classical singers typically do both live performances and recordings. Live performances may be in small venues, such as churches, or large venues, such as opera halls or arts centers. Classical singers may specialize in specific types of singing, such as art song, which are songs performed with piano accompaniment, or opera, which is singing accompanied by a symphony orchestra in a staged, costumed theatrical production.  Classical singers are typically categorized by their voice type, which indicates both their vocal range and in some cases also the "color" of their voice. Examples of voice types that indicate the range of a singer's voice include contralto, mezzo-soprano and soprano (these go from the lowest range to the highest range). Examples of voice types that indicate both the singer's range and the "color" of her voice type are coloratura soprano and lyric soprano. Whereas popular music singers typically use a microphone and a sound reinforcement system for their vocals, in classical music the voice must be projected into the hall naturally, a skill for which they undertake vocal training.
caption: Kathleen Battle
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