How long should a professional singer be able to sing in a single breath ?

Question

How many seconds of nonstop voice (or silence) without taking another breath is satisfactory for a professional singer ? Is there a rule thumb ? does it depend on the register ?

Answer 1

You should be at least able to delay your breath in such way that it does not interrupt with your singing. Being able to sing more is a big bonus, but we can't really put a value on that: Just as long as you can...

You shouldn't be trying to sing more than you are able to, as that will also interrupt with your singing.
Unless you are practicing of course, just make sure you are comfortable on a life performance... ;)

Lower registers need more breath pressure, so they need more breath to do the same.
However, people that need to sing high notes also need more breath for those notes.

But, unless you were to compare yourself with someone else, registers shouldn't really matter...