Nothing more to say than “sacre bleu!”

Plus, the #MeToo movement happening in classical music.

I was asked recently how I manage to publish a weekly newsletter on top of freelancing dance criticism, having a full-time job, among other things, and the answer was simply sleep deprivation.

However, sometimes sleep must come first. So, apologies for my tardiness this week.

Over the weekend, I saw two programs from American Ballet Theatre; I reviewed one. I also saw Tiler Peck’s program at New York City Center, which was excellently curated and performed. My review for that one is also live.

The next McNally Editions book club I’m hosting is on November 17. We’re reading Carolivia Herron’s Thereafter Johnnie. You can sign up here.

I am currently in Phoenix for my aforementioned full-time job, so a shorter send this week. Hope you enjoy!

In the Studio by Alfred Stevens (1888)

Sacre bleu! You probably do not need me to tell you that the Louvre has been robbed of its crown jewels, but there have been some developments on this front. The museum has officially reopened since the crime occurred Monday morning. Le Monde reported that President Emmanuel Macron ordered a “speeding up” of security implementations, though it’s unclear what this will entail. A union representative told the publication that, due to job cuts over the past 15 years, the Louvre simply does not have enough security guards for the number of visitors it sees.

The Louvre is the world’s most-visited museum, having welcomed 8.7 million guests last year. As we’ve previously discussed, it is also in disrepair and is in the very beginning stages of a major renovation project, Nouvelle Renaissance, that has a target completion date of 2031. Just last week, five architecture firms were shortlisted for the project, including Selldorf Architects, which led the Frick’s recently completed renovation.

There are more than 100 investigators on the case, trying to get back the jewels, which are uninsured and worth an estimated €88 million. A government audit of the museum’s security, which was just leaked to Radio France, shows that the museum is severely lacking in modern security technology: barely more than a third of the rooms have at least one camera.

When museum director Laurence des Cars addressed the staff after the burglary, they booed, The Times reported.

This is all probably both a welcome and unwelcome distraction from the British Museum’s very fancy Pink Ball, which it hosted on Saturday night, raising around £1.6 million from ticket sales (which went for £2,000 a pop). The museum’s budget for its Master Plan renovation is estimated to be more than £1 billion. The Met Gala, in 2025, raised a record $31 million.

And not everyone was happy about the Pink Ball, either. Climate protestors took to the stage in the middle of a trustee’s speech, interrupting to urge the museum to drop BP as a sponsor (the oil company has pledged to fund it £50 million over 10 years), The Art Newspaper reported.

Greece also decried the museum for hosting its glitzy gala in the same room that holds the Parthenon Marbles, according to Greek Reporter. Greece’s cultural minister Lina Mendoni said in a statement: “The Ministry of Culture has repeatedly and consistently condemned dinners, receptions, and fashion shows organized in museum spaces where monuments and works of art are exhibited. Such actions are offensive to cultural goods and endanger the exhibits themselves.”

Misty Copeland is officially performing her last show with American Ballet Theatre tonight. Regrettably, my prediction that ABT would put on a public simulcast of her last show was not totally right: instead, it is offering free rush tickets for a simulcast that will be held next door to the David Koch Theater, in Alice Tully Hall. This is still largely inaccessible (who can get to Lincoln Center at 4pm on a week day?) and frankly disappointing, though better than nothing. I’ll be curious to see if the recording is ever publicly released for streaming, or at least included in a future documentary.

Harper’s Bazaar released a digital cover with Copeland today. This is the second time the fashion magazine has put out a dance-related cover this year. The first was a very good Kyle Abraham as-told-to in March.

The International Chopin Piano Competition, which is held every five years in Warsaw, has crowned its victor—27-year-old American Eric Lu has won the €6ok prize after several rounds and much deliberation by the 17-person jury. The competition, which is considered by many to be the piano Olympics (even though the Van Cliburn has also been given that moniker) first began in 1927, and has been a star-maker of several major players, including Martha Argerich, Maurizio Pollini, and Seong-Jin Cho. Deutsche Grammophon will release a live album of Lu’s highlights from the competition.

Worth the long read: This Washington Post profile of Katherine Needleman, the Baltimore Symphony’s lead oboist, who also happens to be leading the classical music world’s #MeToo movement. Needleman’s methods are contentious to some: rather than taking a journalistic approach, she amplifies accusations of sexual misconduct on her social media platforms, often tagging employers of the accused. Why some are in favor of this approach: they say that going through the “appropriate channels” so often doesn’t lead to real change or consequences, and potentially allows abusers to continue their harm.

In case you missed it: Music students at the University of Southern California may get to call Solange Knowles their mentor. As the Thornton School of Music’s first scholar-in-residence, the Grammy-winning artist will develop a curriculum with a special focus on curation. “My goal is to nurture students’ curiosity in this field while advancing educational frameworks that reflect the expansiveness of the landscapes—both sonically and visually—that surround musical expressions,” she said in a press release, Harper’s Bazaar reported.

Below the paywall, some quick hits on: museum funding, the Royal Ballet’s new rules, another opera controversy, Zadie Smith’s writing advice, and more.