There will be "Popcorn." Radiohead player Jonny Greenwood's "Popcorn Superhet Receiver" will get its West Coast premiere in SF, courtesy of the Wordless Music Series, right before his group appears at Outside Lands music fest in Golden Gate Park. This press release came over the transom yesterday:

"On August 21, 2008, New York’s intrepid Wordless Music Series concludes its '07-'08 season with a surprise San Francisco debut, reprising the centerpiece of the inaugural Wordless Music Orchestra concerts from last January by presenting the West Coast premiere of "Popcorn Superhet Receiver."

"The night before Radiohead takes the stage at the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, Wordless Music will feature composer and multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood's Popcorn Superhet Receiver for string orchestra. Maestro Benjamin Shwartz, resident conductor of the San Francisco Symphony, will lead the Magik*Magik Orchestra in a program of music by Arvo Pärt, a major influence on the music of Greenwood and Radiohead, along with Bay Area composers Fred Frith, Mason Bates, and John Adams.

"Commissioned by the BBC in 2005, when Greenwood was named its Composer-in-Residence, and premiered in November 2006 at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London by the BBC Concert Orchestra, Popcorn Superhet Receiver is a 20-minute work inspired by the phenomenon of white noise and the music of Krzysztof Penderecki, György Ligeti, and Olivier Messiaen. For its US premiere in New York City last January, presented by the Wordless Music Series, the work was arranged by the composer for string orchestra, comprising 18 violins, six violas, six cellos, and four double basses. The inaugural performances of the Wordless Music Orchestra and the premiere of Greenwood’s piece were met with great critical and commercial acclaim. Allan Kozinn of the New York Times raved, “The church was packed, and the audience — not the usual faces seen at classical or even new-music concerts — sat in rapt silence through Mr. Greenwood’s work and early Minimalist scores by Gavin Bryars and John Adams.” Selections from "Popcorn Superhet Receiver" can be heard in the score to Paul Thomas Anderson’s extraordinary film There Will Be Blood.

"The Magik*Magik Orchestra was formed by artistic director Minna Choi in April 2008 and seeks to create a company of instrumentalists with a genuine understanding of both the classical and independent rock worlds. With an impressive roster of innovative and accomplished musicians, producers and composers, the Magik*Magik Orchestra serves as the official orchestra of Barsuk Records artist and producer John Vanderslice's studio, Tiny Telephone.

"On August 21, San Francisco Symphony resident conductor Benjamin Shwartz will lead the orchestra. Since joining the symphony's conducting staff in 2005, Shwartz has been a champion of creative classical programming, most recently with his triumphant Mercury Soul show this past spring for which he collaborated with DJ Masonic and visual artist Anne Patterson. Additionally, the performance will feature Gloria Justen, concertmaster of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia; cellist Joan Jeanrenaud, formerly of the Kronos Quartet; and William Winant, principle percussionist for the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and the John Zorn Chamber Ensemble.

"Founded in 2006 by Ronen Givony, the Wordless Music Series is devoted to the idea that the sound worlds of classical and contemporary instrumental music - in genres such as indie rock and electronica - share more in common than conventional thinking might suggest. To illustrate the continuity between these worlds, the series pairs rock and electronic musicians in an intimate concert setting with more traditionally understood classical music performers. The goal: to bring audiences together, and to introduce listeners from both worlds to composers that they might otherwise not encounter, for a completely new concert experience. The Wordless Music Series 07-08 season has seen performances by Do Make Say Think, Beirut, Múm, Colleen, Nico Muhly, Valgeir Sigurdsson, Sandro Perri, Bing and Ruth, Hauschka, Torngat and Electric Kompany, with classical soloists and ensembles performing the music of Bach, Bartók, Chopin, Scriabin, and György Ligeti, as well as contemporary composers Arvo Pärt, John Adams, Gavin Bryars, Osvaldo Golijov, Jacob TV, Nick Didkovsky and Marc Mellits."

THE WORDLESS MUSIC SERIES' SF DEBUT
Arvo Pärt: Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten
Fred Frith: Save As
John Adams: Shaker Loops
Mason Bates: Icarian Rhapsody
Jonny Greenwood: Popcorn Superhet Receiver

Aug. 21, see Web site for time and price
Herbst Theatre
401 Van Ness, SF
Tickets on sale next week at http://cityboxoffice.com/