Martin Frost, star clarinetist, will work with the SPCO on tours, recording and some concerts here at home through the 2018-19 season.

When Martin FrÖst performed a weekend of concerts with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in October, audiences were so excited they looked as if they might turn cartwheels in the aisle. This week, the SPCO announced that FrÖst will be the next in a line of impressive artistic partners, with plans for recording, international tours, new commissioned works and involvement with the star clarinetist's current passion, his" Genesis Project," which will trace the development of classical music from its earliest folk and religious roots to modern compositions.

FrÖst, 43, also recently signed a contract with Sony Classical, and hopes to record with the SPCO as both soloist and conductor on that label during his partnership. He said he's branching out beyond just performing now because "I didn't want to look back on my life and say, oh, I did [Mozart's] Clarinet Concerto 900 times. I'd like to be able to say I was brave enough to try new things, to open new doors for classical music."

FrÖst waxed enthusiastic about his upcoming collaborations with the orchestra (to last through the 2018-19 season). He described the chamber orchestra's members as musicians who "don't just sit there. They sit on the edge of their chairs. They're very flexible to work with and can play some extremely hard stuff. They are offering a wonderful musical home for me, a perfect pairing to try new things." One of those new things, he hopes, will be performances of his original conceptual work "Dollhouse," which combines music, dance and special lighting effects, with musicians taking cues from his choreographed movement onstage. The work premiered in Stockholm in 2013 and was performed last month in Gothenburg, Sweden.

"I call it 'conductography,' " he said."It's about liberation, in both physical and symbolic form.". Okay, SPCO -- prepare to be liberated.