Our Faculty
"The Teacher and the Taught Together Create the Teaching"
- Eastern Proverb
Michael Esch - Piano, Theory, Accompanying
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 coaching's 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.
Listen to Dr. Esch perform here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaMzK-wnMHk&list=RDgaMzK-wnMHk&start_radio=1
​​
Jessica Esch - Piano/Theory/Accompanying
​
​
Jessica has over 30 years of private piano studio instruction and professional accompanying experience in Canada and the United States. Her major teachers have included the revered Canadian pedagogues James Anagnoson at the Royal Conservatory of Music with whom she obtained the ARCT Performer’s Diploma, and Dorothy Morton - with whom she also received a Bachelor of Music Degree (Distinction in Performance) from McGill University. She has also coached privately with Steinway Artist Robert Roux.
Jessica has also pursued additional studies at a number of important summer Music Festivals in Europe and at the Chautauqua Institute of Higher Learning in New York. Jessica’s students have enjoyed considerable success in various levels of Royal Conservatory of Music examinations, at local music festivals/contests in the Greater Toronto Area and at the OMFA Provincial Finals. In addition to her piano studio, Jessica is active within the greater arts community in the G.T.A. She served as the official accompanist for the Toronto Taiwanese Choir from 2004-2005 and has accompanied professionally for numerous R.C.M. exams and recitals.
She is a former orchestra manager of the Canadian Sinfonietta, one of Toronto’s most dynamic chamber orchestras, and presently volunteers in various capacities for that orchestra. Jessica is a natural in working with pre-college talent, and young children. She exudes a warm, nurturing persona, while at the same time challenges her students with a focused and structured lesson environment. In addition to her piano credentials, Jessica is one of the few certified Canadian instructors of Musikgarten; an internationally recognized program introducing babies, toddlers and young children to the wonders of music.
Susan Chang - Musikgarten, Piano and Theory
Susan holds a Master of Education Degree (M.Ed) from York University, as
well as a BA (Hons.) in Children's Studies and Diploma in Piano
Performance. Her teaching passions include early childhood education,
creative dance curriculum and drama education. An advocate for arts
education as an empowering curriculum she finds joy and fulfillment in
teaching music to children and parents.
She is a certified and internationally recognized instructor of Musikgarten, a leading program for music study at the earliest of ages, and has presented workshops and classes in Musikgarten throughout the Far East and Ontario.
Learn more about Susan's classes here:
Lauren Esch - Piano/Theory/Accompanying
Lauren Esch has enjoyed much success as a performer over the years. She made her first concerto debut at the age of 13 playing the Grieg A minor Concerto, under the baton of Maestro Norman Reintamm with the Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra. In addition to her 3 concerti appearances with the CBSO, Lauren has also premiered Richard Herriott’s Dance Rhapsodie Canadienne with the Canadian Sinfonietta in celebration of Canada 150. The work was subsequently dedicated to Lauren by the composer. Lauren has since premiered several works by Canadian composers and is committed to promoting new Canadian music.
Lauren has performed at Carnegie Hall in New York, and in important recital venues including FLATO Markham Theatre, the Richmond Hill Theatre for the Performing Arts, the Toronto Steinway Series, Walter Hall, MacMillan Theatre, P.C. Ho Theatre, Pyatt Hall and Christchurch Cathedral in British Columbia, and was featured on the radio station Classical 96.3fm. In the winter of 2019 she gave a lecture-recital at Victoria College Chapel, hosted by the University of Toronto and former CBC and NPR host Erik Friesen. She is a former top scholarship winner in the Crescendo International Piano Competition, and has won many awards including being a National Finalist in the Canadian Music Competition, Semifinalist in the Bader Overton National Piano Competition, Winner of the ARCT Class in the 2017 ORMTA Provincial Finals, and top pianist scholarships in numerous GTA Festivals. In 2023, she participated in the Vancouver Piano Sessions, where she studied with John Perry, Wayne Weng, and Ning An. In the summer of 2024 Lauren was accepted into the Académie Francis Poulenc in Nice, France, on full scholarship and stipend to study collaborative piano and French mélodie.
Lauren is completing her graduate studies with Dr. Kyung Kim at Western University, and previously worked with Dr. James Parker at the University of Toronto for her undergraduate degree. She credits her love and passion for music to her father and first teacher, Dr. Michael Esch. She is a graduate of the piano program at Unionville High School, and completed her ARCT at the age of 14 with First Class Honors with Distinction. Lauren has performed in masterclasses for Pierre-Laurent Aimard, John Perry, Ronan O’Hara, William Aide, James Anagnoson, John O’Conor, Enrico Elisi, Stephen Philcox, Alain Lefevre, Dutch pianist Paul Komen and Curtis Institute professor, Meng Chien Liu.
Lauren has also been building a strong reputation as a piano teacher at the Esch Music Academy over the past several years, where her students have consistently won top prizes in examinations and local and provincial festival sessions. Her students are graduates of music programs such as the Arts Unionville piano program at Unionville High School, and have been accepted to music programs at top Canadian universities.
​
Listen to Lauren perform here:
​
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49JRXdCJDhw&list=RD49JRXdCJDhw&start_radio=1
Dalen Cubillos - Piano/Theory/Accompanying
Dalen Cubillos has enjoyed considerable success in music festivals,
competitions and exams, including receiving First Class Honours on
his Grade 10 RCM piano exam, and winning the Gold Medal for RCM
Keyboard Harmony in the Vancouver region. He is well-versed in a
variety of musical styles, including classical, jazz and pop. While
piano is his primary instrument, he is also performs on alto sax and
drums.
He has won first place in multiple festivals for piano in BC, including winning the top scholarship from the Yarilo Contemporary Music Society, as well as being accepted to study at the prestigious Orford Music Academy. Dalen also composes a variety of music in his free time, and is a gifted improviser.
Dalen has been privileged to perform at the Maple Ridge ACT Centre, the Place Des Arts in Coquitlam, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, and Walter Hall in Toronto. He has performed in masterclasses with pianists such as James Parker, Enrico Elisi, and Stephen Philcox.
Dalen is currently pursuing a Bachelors of Piano Performance at the University of Toronto under the tutelage of Dr. Michael Esch. His past teachers include Alma Petchersky, and Anna Levy. In August of 2023, Dalen participated at the Vancouver Piano Sessions where he took classes with John Perry and Steven Spooner. He will attend the Master of Music Degree at Western University in the studio of Kyung Ran Kim on full scholarship with stipend.
​
Listen to Dalen perform here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E12c2P-4kw&list=RD2E12c2P-4kw&start_radio=1
Evelyn Esch - Voice
Fresh off of 2 performances with the Canadian Sinfonietta Orchestra
in 2025, Evelyn Esch is currently studying vocal performance on full
scholarship at Wilfrid Laurier University in the studio of Leslie Fagan
and Allyson McHardy. Evelyn undertook pre-college studies with Michelyn
Wright, under whose tutelage she won many awards and scholarships,
and completed RCM level 9 vocal examination with distinction. She is
also an accomplished pianist-having studied with her father, Dr. Michael Esch.
​
Most recently, Evelyn won first place in the level 8 & 9 category and a special award for best performance of a Canadian Art Song at the 2024 ORMTA provincial finals held in Ottawa. For the past four years, Evelyn has been invited to participate in the OMFA Provincial Festival, where she earned many placements and honorable mentions. She has also earned many scholarships from local music festivals in the GTA.
​
Two years prior, Evelyn entered the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) festival, where she placed first in her age category. During the summer of 2023, Evelyn received a full scholarship to attend the Pro Musica International Choral Festival at Queen’s University under the baton of Rollo Dillworth – one of the preeminent choral conductors in the United States.
​
Evelyn is employed as a choral scholar at St. James-Rosemount United church in Kitchener. She has participated in masterclasses with Jenny Such, Leslie Fagan, Elizabeth MacDonald, Bethany Horst, and Kristina Szabo.
​
Evelyn enjoys reading the Bible, going to concerts, and playing with her three-year old baby Maltese, Wolfie.
Listen to Evelyn perform here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDDze0t0N1Y&list=RDiDDze0t0N1Y&start_radio=1
