Dancers rushing down the aisles to the front, everybody clapping accurately on the one, the biggest chorus I’ve heard, or joined.

Now, that doesn’t often happen at orchestra concerts.

Benin-born, Paris-based singer Angelique Kidjo inspired all that on Friday at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, and could likely do that anywhere, any time – orchestra or no orchestra. However, her “African Symphony” co-starred the Philadelphia Orchestra in a song cycle of Afro-pop numbers, new and old, by her and other songwriters, all more than ably orchestrated by Derrick Hodge. 

Miguel Harth-Bedoya enthusiastically and fluidly conducted as the orchestra began each half of the program with Marquez’s Danzon No. 2 (first half) and Barroso’s “Brasil” (second half) as overtures. The first could well be re-titled Danzons, plural, as it flowed numerous dance rhythms together in an episodic survey, from sedate samba to muscular swing, serene waltz to energetic riff waves. The second both echoed a song from the first half and foreshadowed a final delightful, departure-less encore.

After Danzon, No. 2 acoustic guitarist Dominic James of Kidjo’s touring band and percussionist Jacqueline Acevedo (who’d never played with Kidjo previously) joined the orchestra, followed by Kidjo in pink turban and floor-length vivid print dress. She instantly took over the place.

The song cycles that followed – eight tunes in the first half including a three-song medley billed as one; then nine in the second – shared the episodic structure of Danzon, butHodge’s orchestrations united them as cohesively as the power and passion of Kidjo’s voice. Each unfolded as a separate musical unit, and applause rewarded these love songs, protest songs, lamentations and exultations, sung in a handful of languages. Hodge’s orchestral language framed their emotional content, taking advantage of their thematic variety to play with the orchestra: lush Brahms-like strings here, bold Strauss-ian horns there, serenely unhurried Debussy-ish development under the next tune. In other words: basically late-Romantic, though it often felt more modern than that because the songs did. A bassist himself, Hodge gave the four double-bassists stage left plenty to do.

The players seemed intent on their scores, perhaps suggesting scant rehearsal; but they played with typical Philadelphians’ precision, and with the spirit as well as the sound of the songs.

Femi Kuti’s “Lady” led the way, a feminist message in a man’s words, as Kidjo told me in a recent interview from Paris. It quickly answered the questions any pairing of pop with orchestra might prompt: Does it fit? Does it balance? Is the meaning clear? Yes, yes, and yes.

The orchestra surged in majestic grace through “Lady,” and Kidjo’s voice matched it, emotion riding sonic power. “Nongqongqo” (dedicated to departed heroes, Kidjo told me) moved more slowly and quietly; not sad, but strong, poignant.

In Hugh Masekela’s “Soweto Blues,” solo guitar spiced with percussion gave way to low strings without losing its bluesy feel, primal and precise at once, and sung in English.

Most songs weren’t, so more generous introductions and song explanations would have helped clarify Kidjo’s message, like her spoken statements on justice and freedom framed Manu Dibango’s familiar “Soul Makossa.” In the same composer’s “Angola,” Kidjo linked her voice closely to the orchestra; at other times, she stretched or compressed the rhythm, creating tension she always resolved in succeeding verses. 

In “Carnaval de Sao Vicente,” Latin rhythms and sonorities sang as Kidjo liberated her mic from the stand and danced free while singing strong. A magnetic performer, she commanded eyes as well as ears throughout.

Noting her support for younger Afro-pop artists, she medleyed tunes by Burna Boy, Rema and herself to close the first set; an effective strategy for flowing declamatory into insistent into bold, happy.

The second set structurally echoed the first: overture, then song cycle – but added an explosively joyful element of unanimous jubilation that reminded me of a glorious 1980s Jimmy Cliff reggae blast at the late, lamented Lenox Music Inn.

First, however, Kidjo and orchestra built a well-paced, elegantly-shaped suite: the subdued “Folon,” strings in warm support of its reticent mood; Masekela’s upbeat “Bring Him Home” that launched from a funk march to a big finish via trumpets in Afro-pop staccato; the intimate guitar-and-voice-only “Malaika;” the dance-glowing “Jerusalema” in ecstatic waves; here, Harth-Bedoya’s baton locked in with an emphatic snare drum. The mood built even stronger in “Agolo” – when everything broke way loose.

Dancers, mostly women, surged down the aisle to the front in happy dozens, most emulating Kidjo’s moves. The song carried everyone along, and Kidjo shrewdly built the wave under us. After extolling how music feeds our shared humanity (a favorite phrase of Mona Golub introducing international acts at Music Haven), Kidjo challenged “Are you ready to sing with me?” Her anthemic “Afrika” lifted the place higher as everyone stood, danced and sang. Some dancers stayed with the mood in Miriam Makeba’s “Pata Pata” with the orchestra positively rocking.

Few sat down as Kidjo and the orchestra uncorked a departure-less encore. Before any player could leave the stage, Harth-Bedoya signaled the question “One more?” with a raised finger, like at a rock show.  

Another Latin romp wrapped things up beautifully; “Carnaval de Sao Paolo;” an obliging trumpeter furnished the title as we met walking to the parking lot. 

No, all that surely doesn’t happen very often at orchestra concerts. As the late, great Greg Haymes would have said, it was marvelous.

The Songs:

Danzon No. 2

“Lady”

“Nongqongqo”

“Soweto Blues”

“Soul Makossa”

“Angola”

“7 Seconds”

“Carnaval de Sao Vicente”

“Anybody”/“Calm Down”/”Shekere” medley

“Brasil”

“Folon”

“Bring Him Home”

“Malaika”

“Jerusalema”

“Agolo”

“Afrika”

“Pata Pata”

“Arewa”(?)

Carnaval de Sao Paolo”

Angelique Kidjo’s African Symphony was the third of 12 Philadelphia Orchestra performances through Aug. 17.

On Wednesday, Aug. 7, SPAC presents “An Evening With John Legend: A Night of Songs and Stories with The Philadelphia Orchestra.” 7:15 p.m. Limited tickets available in the amphitheater and on the lawn. 518-584-9330 http://www.spac.org