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After his doctorate in musicology and a six-month scholarship at the German Study Centre in Venice, Esch continued to publish academic works. Since 1991 he has worked as a dramaturge for music theatre and drama.
He regularly wrote reviews and essays for daily newspapers, radio and the specialised press. As a producer and editor, he developed and was responsible for concerts and series for Hessischer Rundfunk from 1994 to 2004, programmed various concert formats, produced CD recordings and regularly presented programmes. Esch was on the music advisory board of the Goethe-Institut for many years.
He has been Director of the NRW KULTURsekretariat since 2004. In 2013, Esch received the Grimme Online Award. In 2015-16, he advised the city of Duisburg on cultural development planning. Active on the board of the Kulturrat NRW. Numerous publications and regular jury work (et al. for the European Cultural Foundation). His book "Immer auch ein politischer Impuls" about the composer and music researcher Juan Allende-Blin (co-author: Frank Schneider, Kamprad, 2017) was published in 2017. Since 2019 on the Board of Trustees of the Academy for Theatre and Digitality. Since 2021, Esch has been First Chairman of the "Initiative für die Kultur in Deutschland e.V.". Most recently, Esch was honoured as "Most Innovative Arts & Culture Chairman 2023 (Germany)" at the CEO Monthly Chairperson Awards.