Composer Lera Auerbach (photo by Raniero Tazzi)
That word transcendence appears repeatedly in the program notes for the Houston Ballet company premiere of John Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid, and comes up frequently in conversation with the ballet’s composer, Lera Auerbach. Based on the haunting 1837 fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, who infused the fantastical story with elements of his autobiography, The Little Mermaid runs at the Wortham Theater Sept. 6-15.
“Music transcends language,” says Auerbach, whose music easily slips between recognizable classical idioms and more cryptic vernaculars and, like the mermaid’s song, seduces and pulls the listener into unfamiliar and mysterious sonic worlds. “Music can change and forever alter your life, without you necessarily knowing why.”
Born in 1973 in Chelyabinsk, a large industrial city in Russia’s Ural Mountains, Auerbach began composing music at age four, inspired by her mother, who taught piano at the Tchaikovsky Music College, and her father, who had a passion for literature. “I would create stories,” says Auerbach, describing her early explorations at the piano. “I would illustrate them with notes.” During her childhood, Chelyabinsk was a “closed city,” meaning no foreigners were allowed to enter it. Scientific experiments took place along the city’s borders, and Chelyabinsk became one of the most polluted and radioactive cities in the world. However, as is sometimes the case in such oppressive environments, there were plenty of opportunities for Auerbach to hear great classical music, including concerts by pianist Sviatoslav Richter and violinist Gidon Kremer, who would later record and become an advocate of Auerbach’s music. “My mother lived and breathed music,” says Auerbach. “We never missed a concert.”
Houston Ballet Principals Karina González and Skylar Campbell rehearsing John Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid (photo by Amitava Sarkar, courtesy of Houston Ballet)
Artists of the Houston Ballet with choreographer John Neumeier(photo by Amitava Sarkar, courtesy of Houston Ballet)
Houston Ballet Principal Karina González and artists of the Houston Ballet rehearsing John Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid (photo by Amitava Sarkar, courtesy of Houston Ballet)
In 1991, Auerbach’s talent as a concert pianist and composer brought her to the U.S. for a performance. Before returning, she made an abrupt decision to defect and expand her artistic horizons, even though her mother and father were still in Russia. “They missed ten years of my life,” says Auerbach, who eventually was able to bring her parents to live in the U.S. and once again take comfort in seeing them in the audience for her performances. (Auerbach’s father passed three months ago. Her mother is still alive.)
The Little Mermaid is Auerbach’s second collaboration with Neumeier, but the first where she was asked to compose music for a ballet that had yet to be choreographed. Their first collaboration, Préludes CV, used Auerbach’s 24 Preludes for Violin and Piano and 24 Preludes for Cello and Piano for music, and several performances featured Auerbach herself at the piano. The experience gave her “great insight” into how dancers work with music and would help her imagine the music and movement for The Little Mermaid, which began with Neumeier’s one-page treatment of the ballet with approximate timings. “In a way, as I was writing, I was using my imagination to see how it might be,” says Auerbach. Due to the time constraints set for the 2007 world premiere, the music began as a piano score she composed and played for the ballet’s rehearsals. Auerbach describes the resulting orchestral score, which features both solo violin and the theremin as the “voice” of the little mermaid, as “Incredibly complex … and almost impossible to give any justice on the piano.”
Named after its inventor Leon Theremin, who patented the electronic instrument in 1928, the eerie expressive sound of the theremin can be heard in the theme for the British television show Midsomer Murders and in the chorus of The Beach Boys' influential and groundbreaking pop masterpiece “Good Vibrations.” Using one hand to control the pitch, and the other for the volume, the performer’s gestures are detected by the instrument’s antennae and transformed into sounds that seem to be pulled out of thin air.
“It’s an extraordinarily difficult instrument to play well,” says Auerbach. “It’s almost like meditation because you have to control everything, including your breathing.” After the premiere of The Little Mermaid, Auerbach received a theremin from Moog Music as a thank you for bringing attention to the instrument but has yet to attempt to play it. (Darryl Kubian will play the theremin for the Houston Ballet performances.)
Returning to the subject of transcendence, Auerbach points out that the protagonist of The Little Mermaid, a young, beautiful girl with scales and a fishtail, who leaves the sanctuary of her undersea home to covet the unrequited love of a handsome prince, discovers her true essence by betraying and rising above her nature. “Mermaids are murderous creatures,” laughs Auerbach. “But she transcends all of that. She’s a mermaid, she’s a human, she’s a creature of the air. … She’s Andersen, and she’s every one of us who made sacrifices for something we felt was the right thing to do.”
Inside Buttermilk Baby (photo by Kirsten Gilliam)
Known for its portfolio of upscale and elegant restaurants, the concept represents a new path for Berg Hospitality Group: an all-day family-friendly hangout invested with equal parts Americana and modern-dining know-how. Think of it as a homage to vintage soda-shop ambiance with retro southern fare fit for Instagram fame!
"Buttermilk Baby is a fusion of our traditional fine dining with fast casual to create a new concept of dining I like to call ‘cool casual.’ It’s a place where kids of all ages can get home-cooked comfort food made from top-notch ingredients and just enjoy being a kid again,” says Benjamin Berg, founder and CEO of Berg Hospitality Group.
Buttermilk Baby is the Texas debut of Carvel, the cult classic ice cream brand founded in 1934. As the country’s first retail ice cream company, Carvel is best known for creating The Original Soft Serve, as well as for its iconic ice cream cakes and signature novelties. Carvel’s ice cream cakes, including the Fudgie the Whale character cake, along with 10 flavors of soft-serve and the brand’s fan-favorite Flying Saucer ice cream sandwiches are also on offer.
Chicken fingers at Buttermilk Baby (photo by Brian Kennedy)
Bailey's-and-Oreo boozy shake
Photo by Kirsten Gilliam
Carvel soft serve
Smashburger at Buttermilk Baby (photo by Brian Kennedy)
Start the day with a breakfast of champions: cinnamon rolls, buttermilk biscuits with sausage gravy, buttermilk pancakes and biscuit sandwiches filled with eggs, honey ham and buttermilk-brined fried chicken. The menu also features Ben Berg’s favorite breakfast: an everything bagel with cream cheese and bacon, coined “Ben’s Biscuit.”
Roll up your sleeves for lunch and dinner signatures like diner-style smashburgers, patty melt, chicken finger basket, and a variety of chicken sandwiches (buttermilk, southern-fried, grilled, mushroom-swiss). Smashburgers, hot dogs and corn dogs are made with Texas wagyu beef.
New York-based design firm ICRAVE and longtime Berg collaborator Gail McCleese of sensitori teamed up to produce a dining wonderland where guests are greeted by pink cloud-shaped swings floating from a rainbow-colored arch entrance. You can’t miss the life-size carousel horse, the giant ice-cream-sundae statue (complete with rotating cherry on top), neon signage, and a pastel color palette running through the 50-seat dining room. The kid-friendly ice cream bar has seating for 10.
To drink, adults can sip on frozen frappes, coffee and a limited selection of beer and wine. Carvel’s soft serve ice cream is also incorporated into the menu through the concept’s “boozy shakes” in a variety of adults-only flavors including Espresso Shaketini, Bailey’s Oreo Cookie, and Piña Colada.
Cheers to that!