James V. Monaco International Award

An international award born in a Val Fortore village

In August 2026, Foiano di Val Fortore, a small town in the province of Benevento, Campania, launches the James V. Monaco International Award, a music competition open to musicians and groups of all nationalities. The initiative is promoted by the Municipality of Foiano di Val Fortore in collaboration with the ArtiFrementi cultural association and the Ecomuseo di Foiano, created to keep alive the memory of composer and pianist James Vincent Monaco, who was born here on January 13, 1884, and went on to become one of the most prolific figures in Hollywood film music.

The award follows a year of research into the musician's legacy: in the summer of 2025, the town's Municipal Theater was named after James V. Monaco, with an evening that brought jazz musician Gegè Telesforo to the Val Fortore. The international competition is the next step, which Mayor Giuseppe Antonio Ruggiero has identified as the most important initiative to enhance the composer's artistic heritage.

The competition: ragtime, Tin Pan Alley, and swing reinterpreted today

The first edition is not looking for simple archival performances. Participants, whether soloists or ensembles of any nationality, are asked to propose pieces that interpret the proximity or stylistic evolution of the artistic heritage that made Monaco famous—ragtime, the Tin Pan Alley era, and early 20th-century American swing—using a contemporary language. It is an unusual approach for an Italian competition, focusing on a repertoire that is more talked about than performed live.

Applications must be submitted by July 31, 2026, to [email protected], including the artist's CV and an audio file of the proposed track. A committee chaired by Maestro Umberto Aucone will review the materials and select the three finalists who will perform live in Foiano.

The two evenings: August 9 and 10, 2026

• Sunday, August 9 is the night of the finals: the three finalists perform before the jury and the public. The event is hosted by Gegè Telesforo, already a testimonial for the Foiano celebrations, and the evening will feature a performance by singer and actor Gianluca Guidi.
• Monday, August 10 is the awards night: the winner of the James V. Monaco International Award is announced, and the Big Band Orkestra, conducted by Maestro Umberto Aucone—a group that has already performed Monaco's scores in an orchestral arrangement in Foiano—will take the stage.

Who was James Vincent Monaco

Having emigrated to the United States as a child, Monaco established himself as a pianist and composer first in Chicago and New York clubs, and later in Hollywood, where he worked extensively for the cinema. His songs were made famous by performers such as Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, and Glenn Miller; his work for the big screen earned him four Oscar nominations and he was later inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. His origins in Foiano were only recently confirmed thanks to archival research by genealogist Daniele Iadicicco, who found his birth certificate in Foiano from 1884, correcting decades of biographies that incorrectly listed him as born in Formia.

Foiano di Val Fortore, the village and its Ecomuseum

Foiano di Val Fortore has just over a thousand inhabitants and is located at an altitude of about 520 meters in the upper Val Fortore, a hilly area on the eastern edge of Campania, surrounded by woods, pastures, and medieval historic centers. The village is home to the Ecomuseum, successor to the Museum of Rural Civilization of the Val Fortore, which houses thousands of objects from the material culture of rural Sannio. The award dedicated to Monaco fits into this strategy of enhancement: making memory—both musical and rural—the cultural lever for an Apennine village also marked by the history of emigration.

Why it's worth the trip

It is not a festival of massive numbers, and that is precisely its appeal: two nights of music in a village of a thousand people, featuring a big band, an American repertoire from a century ago, and the story of a boy who left home and ended up writing songs sung all over the world. For those visiting the inland Sannio in August, it is an opportunity to combine an evening of jazz and swing with the discovery of a part of Campania far from the beaten tourist tracks.