"It transcends what we put into boxes."

So said Abel Selaocoe from the stage of Minneapolis' Temple Israel Thursday night, speaking of what he was offering in collaboration with the musicians of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. There was improvisation at many a turn, unexpected bursting into song and a sense of shared risks and rewards for each of the 28 musicians on stage.

If this is what we can expect from the tenure of the SPCO's newest artistic partner, then we are in for a very exciting adventure. This South African cellist-singer-composer-improviser does more than play his instrument exceedingly well and bring insight to his interpretations. Selaocoe is a force of liberation, out to help you escape any boxes into which you may have placed the classical concert experience.

And Thursday night's concert was among the most thrilling I've experienced since live performance became a thing again. Selaocoe is a unique artist with such a diverse but beautifully blended set of influences that — coupled with an ample imagination and a disarmingly openhearted presentation style — should make his SPCO concerts a required destination for anyone seeking fresh terrain to explore for their ears, minds and hearts.

Yes, there's classical repertoire on the program, but everything at Thursday's concert felt the product of Selaocoe's very individual artistic vision. But it's a collaborative vision. Twin Cities-based composer Jonathan Posthuma was a very important contributor, taking many of Selaocoe's artistic ideas and arranging them for the SPCO's forces. These ranged from an apartheid-era South African song of struggle to deeply involving takes on the music of Beethoven — the "Heiliger Dankgesang" slow movement to his 15th String Quartet — and Spanish Renaissance-era composer Cristóbal de Morales.

In each case, cellist and orchestra took the music down innovative paths, making meditative works into portals toward transcendence that managed to paradoxically remain rooted firmly in the earth. Add a simpatico duet partner in Steve Kimball and his assortment of exotic percussion instruments and you have more than 75 minutes of intermission-less music that ebbed and flowed in fascinating fashion.

I can see why Selaocoe regards Yo-Yo Ma as a role model — and collaborator, as Ma plays on Selaocoe's recent debut album — not just for his expert playing, but because he's intent upon going places classical musicians seldom roam. In Ma's case, examples include the Silk Road Ensemble and "The Goat Rodeo Sessions." For Selaocoe, it's all about blending the European classical tradition and the many musical styles of Africa.

It was there not only in the beautiful Beethoven and Morales, but in Selaocoe's original works, such as a semi-improvised interlude that found the cellist singing out phrases echoed by the orchestra or a finale that sounded something like full-orchestra prog rock, Selaocoe adding the ear-expanding overtones of "throat singing" to the mix.

An encore on which Selaocoe's cello summoned up the spirit of such African "desert blues" artists as Ali Farka Touré put the finishing touches on an experience capable of breaking down any boxes into which you've placed classical music.

St. Paul Chamber Orchestra

With: Cellist and singer Abel Selaocoe

What: Works by Selaocoe, Beethoven, Cristóbal de Morales and Luciano Berio

When and where: 8 p.m. Fri., Wayzata Community Church, 125 Wayzata Blvd. E., Wayzata; 8 p.m. Sat., St. Paul's United Church of Christ, 900 Summit Av., St. Paul; 3 p.m. Sun., St. Andrew's Lutheran Church, 900 Stillwater Road, Mahtomedi

Tickets: Free-$26, available at 651-291-1144 or thespco.org

Rob Hubbard is a Twin Cities classical music writer. Reach him at wordhub@yahoo.com.