Composer-performer Frederic Rzewski has always been a classical force to be reckoned with, dating to the '60s pioneering aesthetic of collective improvisation and '70s chamber music that imbued elements from both written and open-ended forms. A piano virtuoso, Rzewski never abanded the masterworks, and his recitals of canonical works remain legendary. For this special event, Rzewski brings the very best of both worlds: Mendelssohn's "Songs Without Words" and his own best-known work, "The People United Will Never Be Deafeted!," a set of piano variations based on a Latin American revolutionary chant, which the New York Times has called "magisterial" and "an instant classic."