Familiar faces, safe selections highlight Edmonton Opera's 2019-2020 season

Edmonton Opera announced its 2019-2020 season on Saturday (Feb. 2), and, entertaining though it will be, there’s a whiff of retrenchment about it.
Largely gone are the stars or international figures who once regularly appeared in Edmonton. Absent, too, is the spirit of adventure we have seen in some of the programming (such as the Donizetti operas it has presented recently, or Strauss’ Elektra).
Instead, the fare is really safe. There’s Verdi’s ever-popular Rigoletto &mda