The Cabildo -through Ópera de Tenerife- and the University of La Laguna -through Institute on Women Studies, Pedro Cabrera cultural forum and the vice-chancellor office for Relationships with the Community- have organized the second Primavera Violeta [Purple Spring]. A project that aims at training for gender equality values through culture by means of a broad interdisciplinary programme of cultural activities dealing with different cultural, social and philosophical issues, that will last till May. Admission to all the activities is free.

The head of the University’s Institute on Women Studies and vice-dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Philosophy section of La Laguna University, Inmaculada Perdomo, will open on Thursday, the 14th, the series of lectures to take place at different venues across the island until 2 May. Her paper is entitled Ciencia y género. Ellas toman la palabra [Science and Gender. Women take the floor], held at Antiguo Convento de San Francisco de Garachico, at 7:00 pm.

The next lecture is taking place at 6:30 pm on 4 April, at Salón de Grados of the Philosophy section at Faculty of Humanities of La Laguna University. Inmaculada Blasco Herranz, Contemporary History lecturer at ULL, will read the paper ¿Y antes de Clara Campoamor? Los feminismos en la España del primer tercio del siglo XX [Before Clara Campoamor. Feminisms in early 20th century Spain].

At the same venue, at 6:30 pm on Thursday, the 11th, Dr. Eva Palomo, visiting lecturer at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos de Madrid, will talk about El sufragismo y su entorno. Presencia y reivindicación feminista a comienzos del siglo XX [Suffrage and its environment. Feminist Presence and Demands in the early 20th century].

The next lecture is by French Philosophy professor of Basque Country University, Lidia Vázquez. It will take place on 25 April at 6:30 pm at Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes de Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Her talk is called Las vanguardias tienen nombre de mujer [Avant-garde is a woman’s name].

The last lecture scheduled in the Primavera Violeta programme will be at 7:00 pm on 2 May at Centro Cultural de Guía de Isora. The speaker is Alejandro Abrante, Doctor of Philosophy and Ópera de Tenerife’s intendant. La imagen de lo invisible en el reflejo de las tres mujeres que inspiraron a Verdi La traviata: Alphonsine Duplessis, Marguerite Gautier y Violetta Valéry. [The image of the invisible reflects on the three women who inspired Verdi’s The Traviata: Alphonsine Duplessis, Marguerite Gautier and Violetta Valéry] His paper deals with the male-centred basis of 19th century society, depicted by Verdi through a broad view on the love fortunes and misfortunes of a woman.  

The programme of this year’s Primavera Violeta closes with the performances of Giuseppe Verdi’s The Traviata, which is travelling to two municipalities on the island. It will be put on at Magma Arte & Congresos, in Adeje, on 11 and 12 May and in the grounds of former Hotel Taoro, in Puerto de la Cruz on 18 and 19 May. This new production, which is entirely made on the island, is part of Ópera Pocket, an Ópera de Tenerife’s initiative.

Ópera Pocket is a project by Ópera de Tenerife and follows the cultural lines of the Cabildo’s Tenerife 2030 strategy, which aims at bringing opera to new audiences by putting it on at different venues across the island.

Ópera de Tenerife’s intendant, Alejandro Abrante, is the production’s stage director and he faithfully portrays the atmosphere and characters Verdi used to describe a male-centred society. He also deepens on this issue through the psychological features of the three women Verdi took into account to compose this opera: Alphonsine Duplessis, Marguerite Gautier and Violetta Valèry.