It is heartening to witness the many positive indicators that the performing arts are up and running again after two years of masking, vaxing, and Zooming. There are even remnants from that challenging time that have morphed into more lasting creative endeavors: The annual Guide to Summer Camps, Institutes, & Programs has three enduring and distinct categories: U.S., International, and Virtual—this last with seven entries. This helps explain why, at 311, there are more listings in this year's Guide than ever before.

We create the Guide to Music Schools each year because change is constant in the performing arts and, even more particularly, in music. If a school wants to keep its enrollment robust, it has to keep up with the times. Northeastern University, for example, offers Bachelor of Science degrees in, among others, Electrical Engineering and Music with Concentration in Music Technology, and Game Design and Music with Concentration in Music Technology.

From year to year, courses and tracks are added or dropped; career services expanded; tuition increased (usually) or dropped altogether for at least three (it used to be just one) conservatories that are fully funded; collaborations with other institutions or departments are offered for double degrees; audition requirements, teacher-to-student ratios—they all change annually and we make sure stay on top of them for the Guide.

The 2022 festival season feels like a joyous welcome home party after so long. Masks on or off, audiences and artists are lining up for live and in-person musical and terpsichorean performances in picturesque settings around the world, in vineyards, mountains, valleys, lakeshores, and amphitheaters historic and modern.

As usual, we’ve packed the Guide with the essentials, including dates, geographic and venue information, ticket prices and purchase links, pandemic safety links as needed, artistic directors, performers, web addresses, and social media links galore. Personally, we’ve already got one foot out the door, heading to the mountains, valleys, and any place in between for some serious music-making and listening. Hope you are too.

But it is safe to say 2022 is looking more solid for competitions or, at least, for predicting and solidifying their information (be sure to check their websites for updates). Scrolling through the near-100 listings here, you’ll find quite a few looming application deadlines, along with live/streamed events in locations ranging from Ljublijana, Slovenia, to Cork, Ireland, to Flint, MI.

The stakes are high, the challenges vast. But the rewards—monetary, professional, and just knowing you tried for your personal best—are huge, not just for the participants, but for a field that celebrates constant rejuvenation.