The Mycos Project is a collective of multi-media artists, educators and scientists founded by Irene Sazer and Kate Stenberg. Mycos, short for Mycorrhiza, is the symbiotic association between plant roots and fungi. The name was adopted as a metaphor for how all life is dependent on all other life.
Our mission is to expand climate change awareness through the arts, ecological sciences and Indigenous practice. Through the medium of fine arts, we are inspired to present information and encourage solutions.
Not Apart, Together is an eco-art film created by Irene Sazer and Kate Stenberg and premiered in San Francisco’s Herbst Theater on March 20, 2022 for InterMusic's SF Music Day with generous support from Kate Bermingham and The Civic Arts Commission. The film - a first for the duo - is a collection of photo stills, video footage, original art and original recorded and live music. It celebrates a diversity of voices sharing information, cultural practices and perspectives. Speaking and singing contributors are Mutsun-Ohlone artist and educator Kanyon Sayers-Roods whose focus is bridging the gap between Indigenous and contemporary value systems, Ravinder Sehgal a San Francisco State University research biologist whose research focuses on the ecology of diseases in birds and Cyril Kowo, a graduate student of ecological sciences in Camaroon. The film includes video, photo and art footage by Stenberg and Sazer along with Alan Freedman, Kirstan Price, Debbie Fier, Edwin Hacking.
"As musicians/artists with a breadth of experience, we feel fortunate to have the freedom to be able to explore these new artistic directions. These continue to expand our creative voices and enable us to focus on the issues we care so deeply about such as global warming.”
Kate Stenberg
Violinist, Kate Stenberg is a leading interpreter of contemporary chamber music having premiered over one hundred solo and chamber works in a dozen countries. For three decades she has been involved in commissioning and collaborating with established and emerging composers whose chamber music works often incorporate improvisation and multimedia. Stenberg has premiered new works by such renowned composers as Gabriella Lena Frank, Peter Sculthorpe, Chinary Ung, Tania Leon and Per Nørgård and her recordings are available on New World Records, Sono Luminous, Newport Classics, New Albion and Other Minds. Currently, Stenberg performs regularly with pianist Sarah Cahill. The Stenberg|Cahill Duo is committed to promoting American experimental chamber music and expanding its repertoire by commissioning new works. In 2022 the duo will premiere two new works by composers Roscoe Mitchell and Pamela Z. Recent appearances have included performances at the San Francisco Performances PIVOT Series and Berkeley Chamber Performances. Kate Stenberg’s passion for chamber music led her to develop and commission new chamber music as an original member of the Real Vocal String Quartet (with Irene Sazer) and the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble. For two decades she served as first violinist of the award winning Del Sol String Quartet.
Irene Sazer
Known internationally as a founding member of Turtle Island String Quartet, violinist and composer Irene Sazer has won acclaim as a soloist, concertmaster, recording artist, and respected educator. Sazer is an in-demand genre-hopping violinist and fiddler of many styles. She founded Real Vocal String Quartet and the School of Strings and String Improvisation in Berkeley, California. Sazer’s own recording First Things First highlights her original voice as a singer and songwriter. She has recorded and/or performed with Jai Uttal, Ali Akbar Khan, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Frank Sinatra, Smoky Robinson, David Grisman, Linda Rondstadt, Bjork, Maria Marquez, and Billy Joel and has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and concert halls around the world. Irene has recently been awarded a Gerbode Special Award in the Arts, among other grant awards.