Alan Walker is Professor Emeritus of Music at McMaster University, Canada, and author of numerous books, including The Death of Franz Liszt Based on the Unpublished Diary of His Pupil Lina Schmalhausen; Franz Liszt: The Virtuoso Years, 1811–1847 (volume 1); The Weimar Years, 1848–1861 (volume 2); and The Final Years, 1861–1886 (volume 3), all from Cornell, and Hans Von Bülow: A Life and Times. He has been awarded the Music Teachers National Association 2010 Achievement Award, the Royal Philharmonic Society Prize, and the medal Pro Cultura Hungarica, presented by the President of Hungary.