Eleanor Wachtel, host of Writers & Company, speaks with Lera Auerbach, a Russian-born American composer who's earned comparisons to Dmitri Shostakovich and has been declared one of the most important classical music figures of our time. One of her most successful works to date is The Little Mermaid, a full-length ballet that she wrote in collaboration with the American choreographer, John Neumeier.  It's been performed around the world and in October 2012, the DVD version won Europe's equivalent of a Grammy Award. In 2013, two new ballets based on Auerbach's music will open, and the Tokyo String Quartet, one of the most respected instrumental groups in the world, has commissioned Auerbach to write a new work for their farewell tour.