Cardinal Calypso is Stanford University's premiere steelpan ensemble. We bring the music and culture of Trinidad and Tobago to the greater university community by performing both traditional Caribbean music and popular songs, as well as exuding general enthusiasm for music, dancing, and sunshine. Our members are all students at Stanford, and we arrange all our own songs. We also write original music.

We are organized as a student group under the Stanford University Office of Student Affairs. We were founded in 2005 through a Robert L. Pierce award from the Stanford Alumni Association. Also, we are supported by a grant from the Associated Students of Stanford University and through generous donations to The Stanford Fund. Unlike some collegiate ensembles, we are a relatively young and small student group, but we have great aspirations.

If you are interested in having Cardinal Calypso perform at an event, please visit booking.

Joining Cardinal Calypso

Calypso is a vibrant, fun, and warm-hearted community. From masterclasses with guest artists like Liam Teague, Duvone Stewart, and Andy Narell to performances at Carnaval San Francisco, we participate in exciting opportunities every year. Members of Cardinal Calypso audition with a wide range of musical knowledge, but no prior experience is required. So whether you played steelpan throughout high school or just discovered it today, we’d love to teach you more about the instrument and see you at our next auditions.

Auditions are held at the beginning of every fall quarter. Auditions for the 2024-25 school year are already complete. If you think you should fall outside of this schedule, or if you have any other questions, we encourage you to contact us.

Current Lineup

'23 Annie Nguyen
'24 Erin Floranda, Rebecca-Ann Jattan
'25 Raisha Abubo, Aanika Atluri, Jean Rachel Bahk, Daniyelle Bennet, Benjamin Foster, Oriana Jackson, Sherlock Langevine, Evan Miksovsky, Jaelen Sobers, Laura Sun, Matthew Vilaysack
'26 Elijah Anderson, Kai Charp, Malaya Gaerlan, Ty Hosien, Jason Hu, Erick Ore
'27 Leon Garcia, Henry Kasulka, Johnny Martinez, Olivia Pham, Hugh Sheehan, Sathvika Sitaraman, Matteo Tucci
'28 Jairus Ah Ching, Benjamin Rorden, Deena Safiulla
'29 Kelcey Allen
PhD Daniel Hutton

Alumni

Marie-Jossee Mont-Reynaud, Chris Fajardo, Doreen Hoang, Lauryn Isford, Amy Kim, Clara McCreery, Amanda McNary, Prithvi Ramakrishnan, Carla Lewis, Paulina Chamely, Eisa Al-Shamma, Gio Jacuzzi, Akwasi Abrefah ('12), Aaron Acosta ('13), Josh Archibald-Seiffer, Alexis Arnold ('11), Chris Balane, Henry Biermann ('14), David Brown, Arielle Craig, Kevin Danna, Mike Demmitt, Nancy Falxa-Raymond, Allison Fink ('12), Adam Genecov ('13), David Germain, Maxine Holland ('11), Sally Hudson, Lucas Johnson ('11), Dana Katz ('12), Binna Kim ('13), Monique King, Liezel Labios, David Miller, Bri Mostoller ('16), Kai Neo ('14), Jonathan Potter ('12), Ben Roth ('11), Jesse Ruder ('12), Emma Sagan ('14), Flip Tanedo, Art Tosborvorn, Will Tucker ('13), Justin Wiguna ('15), Alex Williamson, Cathy Ye, Nate Zwerdling ('11), Alan Propp ('16), Amanda Quay ('16), Leopold Wambersie ('16), Jim Andress ('17), J Evans ('17), Tucker Leavitt ('17), Meghan Shea ('17), Camille Townshend ('17), Zachary Birnholz ('18), Nathan Chael ('18), Elisa Lupin-Jimenez ('18), Kijung Park ('18), Kelsey Reardon ('18), Greyson Assa, Acassia Ferguson, Caroline Young ('19), Carlos Fresnillo ('19), Astrid Casimire ('19), Prasanna Ramakrishnan ('19), Dorian Lumarque ('19), Connor Gunn ('19), John Kustin, Ayoade Balogun, Hank Tian ('20), Tristan Wagner ('20), Cassandra Lin ('20), Jabari Hastings ('21), Mimi Werdegar ('21), Julia Rathmann-Bloch ('21), Coco Sun ('21), Brad Immel ('21), Callum Burgess ('22'), Fatima Karim ('22'), Cam Lincoln ('22'), Jacob Tie-Shue ('22'), Michelle Xing ('22'), Asia Zhang ('22'), Matthew Zheng ('22'), Angel Sandoval Castillo ('23'), William Golub ('23'), Kiana Hu ('23'), Sairah Hyman ('23'), Steven Kohl ('23'), Cooper Reed ('23'), Lauren Selden ('23'), Hawi Abraham ('24'), Jessica Dong ('24'), William Doolittle ('24'), Jenny Jackson ('24'), Stephanie Jackson ('24'), Evan Kanji ('24'), Emmanuelle Williamson ('24')