Back in 2022, important questions were already being raised by the BKCM community about our repertoire: Why do we teach what we teach? Who and what are we missing? When Uton Onyejekwe stepped into the role of DEI Director that same year, he sought to realize this initiative through a much larger database project, one that – until recently – lacked a name.

Alongside BKCM Suzuki faculty member Arthur Villar and CMS/Music Partners faculty member Mara Mayer, Uton is developing Norepeats.org, a digital tool designed for teachers at BKCM and beyond to discover and explore works by composers of historically underrepresented backgrounds. The technological framework comes from Villar’s own website, Pianolit.com, a searchable collection of Suzuki pieces. Uton wondered, “Would Arthur be able to do what he did for PianoLit, but on a larger scale, with different instruments, with different programs being considered, and available to the entire Conservatory? Thankfully, he said yes, and the rest is history.”

Norepeats is currently being tested in preparation for wider release. Composers like Ayo Bankole from Nigeria and Carmen Barradas from Uruguay populate the site, along with the African-American composer William Grant Still, whose Afro-American Symphony was the most widely-performed symphony by an American composer until 1950. Each of these pages provides links to individual works alongside their historical and cultural context. “We want to make sure that we are giving them real scrutiny and examination, and making sure that we’re doing our part to expand the scope of what we are teaching,” Uton says.