Making Overtures - The Story of a Community Orchestra
Directed by Larry Weinstein
1984Documentary28 minCanada
Larry Weinstein's Oscar-nominated portrait of a small-town Ontario orchestra of hog farmers, teachers and seniors, united by the joy of making music.
Synopsis
Larry Weinstein’s first musical documentary is a wry and endearing portrait of the many people that make up Cobourg, Ontarios community orchestra. From hog farmers and school teachers to real estate agents and senior citizens, amateur musicians from all walks of life in this small town bring their widely varying instrumental skills together under the endlessly enthusiastic and slightly crazed leadership of their conductor. Deservedly nominated for an Oscar, Making Overtures is brimming with the joys of human diversity and the pleasures of making music together. And, with this collective portrait of ordinary people making beautiful music, Weinstein established a key theme that runs through his entire body of work - the dynamic relationship between music and everyday life.
The director
Larry Weinstein is a Toronto director and a co-founder of Rhombus Media, with more than 40 productions to his name. He is celebrated for unconventional, emotionally charged music documentaries, among them Ravel's Brain, Beethoven's Hair and Mozartballs.
