Alea III is the contemporary music ensemble in residence at Boston University, a group devoted to promoting, playing, and teaching music of the twentieth amd thwenty-first centuries. Founded in 1978, Alea III is the third such group organized by Music Director Theodore Antoniou. The ensemble is consistent with the music it embraces---flexible in size, open to experiment and to exploration. Over the years, Alea III has offered world-premi¸re opportunities for dozens of contemporary composers, often under the composer's direction, and with extended program notes or comments. The group has performed more than 1,160 works by 677 composers--most of them living. Frequent international touring has enhanced the relationships of American performers with their colleagues and composers from other parts of the world. With its inspiration, several other other contemporary groups have been formed, offering growing opportunity to young composers and musicians to play and comprehend contemporary music.

The Greek word alea taken from Homer, means "to wander." In Latin, it refers to "a die or dice used for playing at games of chance." The term aleatoric music indicates music based upon the principles of indeterminacy as evidenced by certain random and/or statistical procedures of composition. In regard to the ensemble, aleatoric is concerned with the expression of a multiplicity of musical directions, historical styles, and performance practices.

-Theodore Antoniou,Music Director