High Fidelity Meets High Art: AXPONA 2012

(Jacksonville, Florida – November, 2011) - A first-ever audio expo and symphony orchestra collaboration will take place in Jacksonville, Florida, in 2012.

The AXPONA audio show returns to Florida’s First Coast, March 9-12 at the Omni Jacksonville Hotel, the first of multiple shows scheduled for 2012 in major metropolitan areas.

Headlining the expo is a live concert by the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in a worldclass concert hall designed for an intimate and acoustically superior experience. The March 8-10 concert weekend features Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, one of the “A-list” works for the classical audiophile.

During the March 7 Downtown Art Walk, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., in the OMNI Jacksonville Hotel Atrium, the AXPONA Audio Expo will offer a preview demonstration of high-end home audio systems, in partnership with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra’s “Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony” performances on March 8-10. Also in the Omni atrium, an art exhibit by the Brown Museum of Art in Springfield will be on display.

AXPONA is dedicated to preserving superior quality music playback by producing high-end events focused on the world’s finest equipment and the media that support it.

AXPONA’s Steve Davis is excited to bring the expo back to Jacksonville. "We found that there are more people with a genuine interest and knowledge in high-end home audio in Jacksonville than in cities twice its size. We're also thrilled to include a live orchestral experience in Jacksonville's acoustically superior concert hall," said Davis.

Symphony Executive Director Stacy Ridenour welcomes the collaboration. "It's not often that hundreds of audiophiles have the chance to sample the world's finest equipment and compare it with the very thing it was intended to reproduce, the emotional power of a live symphony orchestra," said Ridenour.

The Omni Jacksonville is directly across from Jacoby Symphony Hall at the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts, home of the Jacksonville Symphony.

AXPONA is open to the public. Advance tickets are on sale now. Log on to AXPONA.com for tickets and information or call (877) 246-3892 or (386) 256-4993. Jacksonville Symphony tickets are available to AXPONA conference guests for the special convention price $35.

Jacksonville Symphony patrons are offered free admission to AXPONA exhibits by showing theirMarch 8, 9 or 10 Symphony ticket. Admission prices are $15 (one-day); $25 (two-day); $35 (three-day).

Media Sponsors include Stereophile, The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com and other fine publications.

About AXPONA

AXPONA Audio Expo offers demonstrations of home audio playback equipment and software replicating live music as accurately as possible. Equipment is diligently designed to reproduce the emotions of musician’s live performances. Attendees have direct contact with designers and manufacturing-trained personnel while listening to the latest equipment available demonstrated throughout the venue.

About the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra

The Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra ranks among our country’s top 40 orchestras. The Orchestra’s quality and commitment to Florida composers “offered a timely reminder of how much interesting music-making goes on outside what are traditionally regarded as major music centres,” as reported by the Toronto Star.

Home of the Jacksonville Symphony

Opened in 1997, Jacksonville’s world-class Jacoby Symphony Hall at the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts is designed for an intimate and acoustically superior concert experience. In fact, the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra is among an elite group of American orchestras with a dedicated concert hall. Jacoby Symphony Hall is constructed in a “shoebox” shape, such as the classic European concert halls and Boston’s venerable Symphony Hall. With acoustical design by the acclaimed Kirkegaard & Associates, the hall keeps the sound alive by reflecting, sustaining and distributing symphonic tones to the audience in equal proportions.