Education
- DMA, Rice University
Biography
Michael Esch holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance from Rice University where his teachers included Robert Roux and Jon Kimura Parker. His other major influences include his first teachers Rosemary Collins and Dorothy Morton, as well as extensive coachings with Rebecca Penneys, Lazar Berman and Anton Kuerti.
Dr. Esch has been featured in numerous recitals throughout Canada including the Glenn Gould Studio for the CBC, and for the Canadian University Music Society. He has also appeared in concert throughout Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, the United States and Germany, as well as various centers in the far east. He has performed with numerous orchestras in Canada, and has collaborated with a number of acclaimed artists including the Belgian violinist Michael Guttman and the eminent violist, Rivka Golani, as well as the Canadian Sinfonietta Chamber Players. Most recently, Michael has presented lecture recitals on the Taubman Technique for 2024 IPPA/Conero World Piano Pedagogy Conference, and performed in a Faculty Showcase recital for the 2024 Vancouver Piano Sessions.
The Canadian Composer Robert Rival has composed and dedicated the work ‘6 pieces for Piano’ (found in the ARCT and LRCM repertoire lists) for Michael. Dr. Esch was a featured pianist on the RCME 2015 Piano Syllabus CD set.
Michael has enjoyed grant support from the Chalmers Foundation, and is a multiple grant recipient from the Canada Council for the Arts. A sought after adjudicator in Canada, Michael has adjudicated festivals at the Provincial level for the O.M.F.A., ORMTA, SMFA, NSMFA, PABC, the Canadian Music Competition 50’th Anniversary National Tour and the Glenn Gould School Concerto Competition, Conero Intl, Sound Espressivo Intl, the Cresendo International Piano Competitions among many others. He is a senior examiner for RCM examinations and has presented many masterclasses for the Phil and Eli Taylor Young Artist Performance Academy at the RCM.
A sought after teacher, many of Dr. Esch's students have been featured in recital or concerto appearances in major GTA recital venues including Koerner Hall, The Glenn Gould Studio, the University of Toronto Arts and Letters Club, Markham Theatre, as well as Carnegie Recital Hall in NYC. They have been featured in concert with important orchestras in Ontario and Europe, and in masterclasses with major artists in prestigious international music festivals such as the Morningside Music Bridge, Vancouver Piano Sessions, and John O'Conors 'Beethoven Boot Camp'.
Notable achievements of Dr. Esch's students include: winner of the CFMTA National Piano Competition, CMC National Finalists, OMFA Provincials (all senior levels), First Prize winners in the Crescendo International Competition, Sound Espressivo, GOCCA, Conero Intl’s, as well as winners of the ORMTA Young Artist Tour (4), National Gold Medal Winners for the RCM Licentiate Diploma (2), RCM Gold Medal for ARCT, the youngest candidate to have earned the LRCM with Distinction, and as well as Prize Laureates at the Berlin and Boston Intl Amateurs competition. His students have played in masterclasses for some of the world's pre-eminent performer pedagogues and have been accepted with full scholarship to all of the major music institutions in Canada and several in the USA.
Dr. Esch has taught at Wilfrid Laurier University and has served on staff at the Glenn Gould School/RCM since 2007. In September of 2010 Michael and his wife opened the Esch Music Academy, a school for prodigious piano talent in Markham Ontario. Michael is a Top Teacher Award recipient from Steinway and Sons and has been recognized by the RCM as a National Teacher of Distinction. Michael has served on Faculty at the University of Toronto since 2021.