Following a three-week limited theatrical release , it received a wide release on October 28, through Focus Features. Lydia heavily relies on Francesca, her personal assistant and confidant.
She meets with Eliot Kaplan, an investment banker and amateur conductor who co-founded the Accordion Foundation with Lydia to support aspiring female conductors. They discuss technique, replacing Lydia's assistant conductor Sebastian, and filling a vacant cello position in Berlin. As a guest lecturer, Lydia holds a masterclass at Juilliard. When a student expresses their reluctance to study J.
The student is exposed as incoherent, and feels offended; he insults Lydia before leaving the class. Later that night Lydia receives an anonymous gift. When she finally opens it on a plane's toilet, it turns out to be a first edition of Vita Sackville-West 's novel Challenge. She tears up the page and then throws it away, along with the book. Lydia flies back to Berlin, where she lives with her wife Sharon who is concertmaster of the orchestra and their adopted daughter Petra.
Before a blind audition for the cello position, Lydia spots a young Russian candidate, Olga Metkina, in the bathroom. Lydia changes her scorecard to ensure Olga a spot in the orchestra and grants her a soloist position in the companion piece, Elgar's Cello Concerto. Lydia's attraction to Olga causes her relationships with Francesca and Sharon to grow strained.
Krista Taylor is a promising young musician who has been blacklisted after getting on the bad side of her former mentor, Lydia. After sending desperate emails to Francesca, Krista kills herself, and Krista's parents plan to sue. Lydia instructs Francesca to delete the emails and retain a lawyer. Lydia informs Sebastian of his replacement.
