Frederic Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated! (1975)

The song quickly became an anthem of protest against the ensuing brutal dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet and against authoritarian rule worldwide.

“The People United...” was commissioned by pianist Ursula Oppens for the U.S. Bicentennial and premiered by her on February 7, 1976, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

The center was renamed the “Trump Kennedy Center” in December 2025 and is scheduled to close after July 4, 2026, for a comprehensive renovation lasting until 2028.

Heather O’Donnell is an American pianist, psychologist, and author. She has performed at international festivals and premiered over 30 works, including pieces by Luciano Berio, Frederic Rzewski, and John Zorn. After a hiatus due to injury, she turned her attention to developing psychosocial support structures for artists and founded TGR The Green Room in Cologne in 2020. Heather O’Donnell lives in Düsseldorf.

Frederic Rzewski, born in 1938 in the U.S., died in 2021 in Italy, was a gifted pianist of new music and a politically engaged composer of experimental works, often featuring improvisational and live-electronic elements. In 1966, he founded the group Musica Elettronica Viva in Rome with Alvin Curran and Richard Teitelbaum. In 1963, Rzewski was a fellow of the DAAD’s Berlin Artists-in-Residence Program.

An event presented by the Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart in collaboration with Freunde* Guter Musik Berlin e. V.