In 1990, he attended Principia College,[4] Elsah, Illinois, on a full scholarship, and while there studied music theory and 20th Century composition techniques under Jim Dowcett, as well as Engineering Science and Computer programming with David Cornell and Tom Fuller.
His tutelage under Dowcett at Principia was said to unleash a creative individualism that eventually evolved into a career as a composer with works that bear influences from Africa, the Caribbean and the American Deep South.
While the 2005 Hurricane Katrina brought indescribable devastation to many people in New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico, it was in the aftermath of that disaster that much of Onovwerosuoke's music manuscripts were discovered and salvaged by volunteers who had visited his family to help with the clean-up and rebuilding effort.
Shortly afterwards, a quick succession of works were published, including his Twenty-Four Studies in African Rhythms, Volume I[7] (African Music Publishers, 2007), Songs of Africa: 22 Pieces for Mixed Voices[8] (Oxford University Press, 2008), and in the CDs, African Arts Music for Flute[9] by flutist Wendy Hymes and pianist Darryl Hollister, ASA: Piano Music by Composer from Africa and the African Diaspora[10] by pianist William Chapman Nyaho, and the promotional CD, Landscapes of Africa: Music for Orchestra,[11] by the New Horizons Studio Orchestra.
[12] Onovwerosuoke has a diverse compositional output that includes orchestra suites and works for various combination of chamber groups.