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      Live Music

      Music in the Atrium: The BEAT with Charles M. Murrell III

      Sunday, February 15, 2026 from 11:30 am—1:30 pm

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      The BEAT

      Know before you go:

      In-person event
      Location: Main Atrium

      Included with admission

      This program includes live amplified music.

      Join us in celebrating Black History month through music! The Black Experimental Arts Theater (BEAT) shares music and stories from the African diaspora and is led by saxophonist and composer Charles M. Murrell III. 

      Join us on other Sundays in February to hear from two more featured musical groups:

      February 8: The A-Beez

      February 22: We Black Folk

      Music in the Atrium is PEM’s live concert series that features local and visiting performers from a variety of musical traditions and styles. Concerts take place on select Sundays from 11:30 am–1:30 pm.

      About our collaborators

      The BEAT with Charles M. Murrell III
      The BEAT with Charles M. Murrell III

      Charles M. Murrell III, who also uses the creative monikers Esuyah X. & Simba Touré (Samba Samb Fall), is a composer-performer, educator and advocate for justice and healing. His work has always challenged the line of art and activism. He shares an equal passion and love for themes of resilience, resistance and determination found throughout Spirituals, Blues and Field Hollers, the resistance marches of Haiti, the “chip down di road” of Caribbean Carnival and of course, the foundation of it all, Congo Square and New Orleans Second Line Music. His upbringing in both Western Classical idioms and historically Black marching band traditions gave him the unique ability to use both his art and passion activism throughout his college and adult life. He organized concerts, marches and community service projects, all while serving on leadership boards for choirs and other organizations. He also recently lived with a host family in Dakar, Senegal studying history, culture, dancing and drumming and attending various activist workshops and clinics. Murrell has studied with Kenneth Radnofsky (saxophone, New England Conservatory of Music) and various masters of Indigenous practices spanning Native American and Bomba, Afro-Brazillian Folkloric, Haitian Folkloric and West African rooted music and movement. He is the founder and director of the Black Experimental Arts Theatre. He also performs regularly with Trend N Motion, Troupe Fall, Amaya Drum and Dance, Benkadi Drum and Dance, Le Prestige, Jimmy Treez and Bosstown Heavy, Boubacar Diabate and Sambalolo, The Black Cotton Club. His latest music, film and mixed media projects include The Underground Railroad Project (Seasons 1-3), From the Rooter to the Tooter, The African Hymn, Shades of Blue: A Wedding Medley, follow the drinking gourd, sundi and sankofa visions. Image courtesy of Castle of Our Skins.

      The Black Experimental Arts Theatre is preserving heritage, building community and amplifying untold stories through music, movement and art. Music is more than sound. It is also memory, heritage and the language of human resilience. The BEAT preserves stories of the African diaspora while reimagining their future through:(1) a collaborative ensemble that explores experimental works that are a call to action, (2) a focus of themes that center uniting history and innovation and (3) community engagement. It is a company whose members deeply examine and use their own experiences in fighting for civil rights, human rights and social justice. Rooted in activism and resilience, their vision is to honor the past, confront injustices and inspire change. By combining the transformative power of music-movement-mantra with storytelling and education, they aim to amplify voices, preserve cultural heritage and build bridges toward a liberated future.

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