News
23 September 2026 – Portishead's Adrian Utley Reworks Chopin for the Expanding Chopin Residue Project
By Editorial Team - September 23, 2026
Summary
Portishead guitarist Adrian Utley reworks Chopin's Étude Op. 25 No. 12 for Mariusz Szypura's 'Chopin Residue', premiering live at London's Cadogan Hall on September 26.
Key Facts
- Portishead co-founder Adrian Utley created a piano-free electronic and guitar reimagining of Chopin's Étude Op. 25 No. 12.
- Contributed to Polish composer Mariusz Szypura's experimental multi-artist Chopin Residue project.
- Receives UK live premiere at London's Cadogan Hall on September 26 featuring John Stanier, Sean O'Hagan, and Leszek Możdżer.
- Entities: Adrian Utley, Portishead, Chopin Residue, Mariusz Szypura, Frédéric Chopin, Cadogan Hall, London, Polish Jazz Festival
- Tags: adrian-utley, portishead, chopin-residue, mariusz-szypura, polish-jazz-festival, classical-reinterpretation, experimental
Portishead guitarist and co-founder Adrian Utley has contributed a new reworking of Chopin's "Étude Op. 25 No. 12" to Mariusz Szypura's "Chopin Residue" project, extending an experiment built around a wonderfully odd question: what remains of Chopin when the piano itself is removed? Szypura's project takes the harmonic and structural traces of Chopin's compositions and allows contemporary collaborators to rebuild them through different instrumentation and production approaches.
Utley is particularly well suited to that exercise. Portishead's catalogue has always depended as much on empty space, texture and atmosphere as conventional melody, making the idea of working from a musical "residue" rather than a direct cover feel almost suspiciously tailored to him. "Chopin Residue" involves a large network of collaborators and will receive a UK live premiere at London's Cadogan Hall on September 26 as part of the Polish Jazz Festival. The concert lineup includes Utley alongside John Stanier, Sean O'Hagan, Leszek Możdżer, Charlie Draper, Pat Stawiński, Miłosz Pękala and Szypura.
Classical reinterpretation can become painfully reverential when everybody behaves as if the composer might rise from the grave to inspect the sheet music. This project takes the healthier route: treat Chopin as material capable of surviving radical rearrangement. If the original composition remains recognisable after the piano has effectively left the building, somebody probably understood it rather well.