The Hamburger Bahnhof was one of Berlin’s major terminus stations in the 19th century – a place of arrival, departure and transition. To this day, this history shapes the museum of contemporary art in the heart of Berlin. Like Berlin itself, the Hamburger Bahnhof is full of complexity and contrasts, with change as its constant.
Frederic Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated! (1975)
The monumental, approximately 60-minute cycle of variations “The People United…” is based on the song “El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido,” which Sergio Ortega, a close friend of Frederic Rzewski, wrote for the socialist Unidad Popular of the democratically elected Chilean President Salvador Allende shortly before his overthrow, orchestrated by the U.S. administration, in September 1973. The song quickly became an anthem of protest against the ensuing brutal dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet and against authoritarian regimes worldwide.
“The People United…” was commissioned by pianist Ursula Oppens to mark the 200th anniversary of the United States and was premiered by her on 7 February 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 4 July 2026, for extensive renovations 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. Following 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. and died in 2021 in Italy, was a gifted pianist of new music and a politically engaged composer of experimental works, often incorporating 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 – National Gallery of Contemporary Art in collaboration with Freunde* Guter Musik Berlin e. V.