With federal immigration agents swarming Minnesota, ICE raids, protests, counterprotests, shootings and other horrors in recent weeks, a moment of calm took place at the Cathedral of St. Paul, during a Saturday concert featuring Sir John Rutter with VocalEssence.

The English choral music legend joined the VocalEssence Chorus and Ensemble Singers, along with a chamber orchestra and soloists Audrey Lane-Getaz and G. Phillip Shoultz III, for an afternoon of reverberating voices inside the cathedral’s stone walls. The sold-out performance followed a sing-along event the previous day with the British composer/conductor at Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis.

Rutter declared “new light” as the theme for the concert. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it,” he said, quoting the Gospel of John, before adding, “The darkness cannot overcome it.” While not specifically referencing the recent crisis in the Twin Cities and beyond, his words certainly offered a hopeful message amid recent strife.

SMALL FILE — MAX. WIDTH FOR PRINT: 6.8 INCHES — Composer John Rutter will conduct the VocalEssence Chorus and Ensemble Singers and chamber orchestra during a performance on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026 at the Cathedral of St. Paul. (Courtesy of VocalEssence)

The composer also offered an anecdote about meeting Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, after they heard the music, noting the former royal’s noncommittal but perhaps positive response and the latter’s less enthusiastic one.

“Philip was not known for his attention span,” Rutter said.

Rutter is especially known for his original Christmas music as well as his choral arrangements of Christmas carols, and the program included some of that repertoire. He noted that, technically, the Christmas season doesn’t officially end until Candlemas on Feb. 2.

Rutter’s arrangement of “Here We Come A-Wassailing” featured a jaunty snare drum performed by percussionist Will Kemperman. Rebecca Arons handled a lovely cello solo at the beginning of Rutter’s original Christmas tune, “Carol of the Magi.” And Rutter’s “New Year,” with its resonant vowel sounds that lingered in the nave, and a warm horn part played by Allison Akins, emerged as a highlight.

Besides the seasonal music, the program spotlighted the wonder of creation, awe in nature and gratitude for music itself.

“When Music Sounds,” which VocalEssence commissioned in 2018, began with female voices of the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers as well as artistic director Philip Brunelle at the piano. As harmonies later incorporated male vocal parts, the music made for a lovely tribute to the beauty of voices singing together. Rutter’s 1988 tune, “All Things Bright and Beautiful,” based on Cecil Frances Alexander’s poem, had an enticing pulse.

Rounding out the concert was the U.S. premiere of Rutter’s “I’ll Make a World,” set to a poem by James Weldon Johnson, known for writing the lyrics for “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” In his remarks, Rutter said his music was the first time Johnson’s “I’ll Make a World” had been set to music.

Lane-Getaz, an alto in the Ensemble Singers, and associate artistic director Shoutz performed the two solo parts, with Lane-Getaz acting as narrator and Shoutz standing in as the voice of God. With elements of jazz, gospel and spirituals incorporated into the music, the song was a British homage to Black American music traditions.

Responding to Rutter’s return to the Twin Cities, the packed cathedral gave Rutter enthusiastic applause both on first appearance and at the end of the concert. With its robust choral music community, the Twin Cities relished in the afternoon of healing music.

VocalEssence next performs for its “Witness” program during Black History Month.

VocalEssence

What: The group’s next concert is “Witness: Symphony of Spirituals.”

When: 4 p.m. Feb. 22

Where: Northrop Auditorium, 84 Church St. S.E., Minneapolis

Tickets and accessibility: Go to vocalessence.org and northrop.umn.edu/accessibility for accessibility.

Capsule: VocalEssence’s talented singers paid tribute to guest composer Sir John Rutter of Britain. For their next concert, the VocalEssence choirs will recall the civil rights movement through anthems, spirituals and more.

A downtown St. Paul hotel will close temporarily citing safety concerns in St. Paul.

The DoubleTree Downtown St. Paul Hotel sent letters to its guests saying they had to find a new place to stay beginning Sunday.

“Please know that your safety and well being will always be our top priority. Due to heightened public safety concerns in St. Paul, we have made the difficult decision to temporarily close our hotel, and your reservation will be canceled (effective Sunday, Jan. 18).”

The letter went on to say, “We are taking this step out of care for you, our team members, and the surrounding community.”

An employee who answered the phone at the hotel confirmed the hotel was closing Sunday and said it was undetermined when it would reopen.

The hotel is owned by the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.

Media reports, including a post on X from a Fox News correspondent, stated that another downtown St. Paul hotel owned by the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, the Intercontinental Hotel, was also temporarily closing, although a person who answered the phone at the Intercontinental Hotel on Sunday said they were not closing but were fully booked for the week.

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Is there anything opposing defenses can truly do with Anthony Edwards? At some point, teams have to be asking themselves that question after another scintillating show put on display in the second half Saturday in San Antonio.

The Spurs sport the NBA’s third-best defense. It’s nearly impossible to score on them when Victor Wembanyama occupies floor space.

Yet the Timberwolves superstar guard shredded San Antonio over the final two quarters. The Spurs, who led by 25 at the break, held on for a three-point victory, but only after surrendering 39 second-half points to Edwards, easily the most in a single half in the association this season.

The guard — who scored a career-high 55 points in the game — drilled eight triples over the final two frames, including five in a 26-point final frame that nearly sparked yet another remarkable come-from-behind victory.

“Made big shot after big shot,” Wolves coach Chris Finch told reporters. “He was inspirational.”

The performance came just a week after Edwards scored nine points in the final 5 minutes, 18 seconds in Minneapolis – including the game winner with 16 seconds to play – to down the Spurs at Target Center.

Anthony Edwards #5 of the Minnesota Timberwolves reacts after hitting a three but not getting a foul called on the San Antonio Spurs in the second half at Frost Bank Center on January 17, 2026 in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images)

Saturday was far more spectacular, as Edwards dissected one of the league’s best defenses with near surgical precision. When Wembanyama was on the floor, Edwards repeatedly fired off largely open step-in triples against the Frenchman’s drop pick-and-roll coverage.

When Wembanyama sat or when San Antonio pressed Edwards off the arc – a consistent defensive approach he faced in last year’s playoffs – Edwards looked for opportunities to attack the rim. When the lane was clogged, he found space for his mid-range jumper.

Each of those makes left Spurs defenders to either laugh in disbelief or star defeatedly into space.

When the Spurs finally started outright double-teaming Edwards, he got off the ball quickly, which resulted in multiple open 3-point attempts for Donte DiVincenzo.

Every question San Antonio asked of Edwards, he answered correctly and with clarity. Combine that with his supreme skill and shot making, and the Spurs’ only solution was to hit enough shots of their old to hold on.

Edwards has long been a supreme scorer, but the specific shot skills he’s added over the last two offseasons – combined with a renewed commitment to his finishing around the rim – has rendered the guard relatively unguardable.

When Edwards is highly motivated to score, he does so at will.

It’s why he touts the best true shooting percentage and effective field goal percentages in the NBA in clutch time this season – when games are within five points in margin with fewer than five minutes to play in regulation. He’s shooting 71% from the field and 61% from distance in that setting.

When Minnesota desperately needs points to win a game – particularly a game Edwards himself desperately wants to win – the 24 year old delivers.

There are 65 cases this year of NBA players scoring 25-plus points in the second half of a game – Edwards is responsible for five of them, which ties him with Cleveland guard Donovan Mitchell for the league lead.

For reference, Gilgeous-Alexander has just one such second half (though, to be fair, the Thunder didn’t play many competitive games over their first 30 contests), the same number as Lakers wing Luka Doncic.

Edwards has played 19.5-plus second half minutes on 10 occasions this season, and has 23-plus points in six of those halves.

Winning time is his time. Edwards told reporters after Saturday’s game that he gets up to face Wembanyama, the supposed next face of the league. Any added motivation typically pushes Edwards’ cup of competitive juices over the edge, and sets off a combustion of dominant basketball.

Those chemical reactions are getting far more dangerous for opponents with each passing season, which bodes well for Minnesota’s chances at making another deep playoff run this spring, and strikes fear into the heart of every possible Western Conference opponent in Edwards’ potential path of destruction.

San Antonio included.

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The message from Wild coach John Hynes before a tough road game in Buffalo early Saturday was a simple one:

Even with five veteran players – three of them Olympians – sitting at home, there was a way to resume winning. The solution to their recent woes was in sitting inside the visitors’ locker room at KeyBank Center, adjacent to the frozen Buffalo River.

“What I said was we do have guys out of the lineup and…one person’s not going to replace the other one, but there are attributes to the game,” Hynes recounted, after his team built a lead, lost it, then won 5-4 in overtime versus the Sabres. “Guys are going to step up on the power play or penalty kill or 5-on-5, whatever role they’re going to be in, but we have capable players. We have guys that are in our lineup and hockey’s the game we all love, but winning is our business. We’re expected to win, regardless of who’s in the lineup, so we needed to go out there and prove it.”

With defensemen Jonas Brodin and Zach Bogosian, and the entire second line of Matt Boldy, Marcus Johansson and Joel Eriksson Ek all back in Minnesota getting healthier, the Wild had little-used newcomers like Hunter Haight (playing his third NHL game) in the lineup. And while Hynes liked the contributions from the fourth-liners, generally, he called upon veterans like Marcus Foligno, Ryan Hartman and Vladimir Tarasenko to step up and help hold the fort while they wait for reinforcements in the form of that injured quintet’s return.

It’s worth noting that Foligno, Hartman and Tarasenko all scored on Saturday, as the Wild won for the first time in more than a week.

“We needed those guys to come in. Obviously when you get into some injury issues like that it gives some different guys in your lineup opportunities to play,” Hynes said in praise of the veterans. “It’s not just the guys that might get recalled and get put in that haven’t been playing, so I thought those guys had real strong games and it’s good. They’re three veteran guys that we need to be able to come through for us in this time.”

And then there is the continued eye-popping play of Quinn Hughes, who was named the game’s No. 1 star. He had a goal and an assist, and has posted 18 points in the 17 games he has spent in a Wild uniform. His true value to Minnesota will surely be revealed in the spring, when the Wild look to get to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in more than a decade, but with Vancouver sinking to the basement of the NHL standings, the blockbuster trade is looking like a solid win for Minnesota general manager Bill Guerin after a month.

Always seemingly his harshest critic, Hughes seemed less interested in his goal, which tied the game at the end of the second period, and more focused on why it was only his second in 17 games with the Wild.

“Honestly I just feel like I’ve had chances to score, Grade-As every game, and it just hasn’t gone for me,” he said. “And there’s years like last year, the year before that, it was going for me. Had a lot of good bounces over the years, and I just feel like I needed one.”

In overtime, with a Sabre in the penalty box, the Wild looked like their power play chance to win had gone for naught. Buffalo sent the puck out of the zone with a dozen seconds left in Minnesota’s man-advantage, seemingly killing the penalty, and two Sabres went for a line change. But Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson, seeing the Sabres were switching personnel, stepped up and fired the puck back to the offensive zone, to Kirill Kaprizov. He passed to Mats Zuccarello, who fired the overtime winner. It was the first assist of the season for Gustavsson.

On the road, versus the hottest team in hockey, with five players missing, the Wild learned much about what they still have, and what they will need to do, for the time being anyway.

“That’s all we wanted to do tonight, we wanted to compete. I think the last three games, I’d say the last two probably, our compete level was subpar,” Foligno said. “You get energy, you just try to do the things right all the time, and you find yourself going into the third period on the road and it gave us a chance. We miss those guys obviously dearly, but we’re not looking at excuses. That’s not the way we are around here.”

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