2Cellos

2Cellos
2Cellos in 2017.
Background information
Origin Zagreb, Croatia
Genres Cello rock, classical, chamber music, instrumental rock
Years active 2011 (2011)–present
Labels Sony Masterworks
Website 2cellos.com
Members Luka Šulić
Stjepan Hauser
YouTube information
Channel
Years active 2011–present
Genre Music
Subscribers 3.07+ million
Total views 644.7+ million
100,000 subscribers 2013
1,000,000 subscribers 2015
Subscriber and view counts updated as of November 20, 2017.

2Cellos (stylized 2CELLOS) is a Croatian cellist duo[1], consisting of classically trained Luka Šulić and Stjepan Hauser. Signed to Sony Masterworks since 2011, they have released four albums and play instrumental arrangements of well-known pop and rock songs as well as classical and film music.[2] The duo performs internationally and has been featured on several US TV shows including Glee and The Bachelor.[3]

Background

Hauser, born in Pula, Croatia, and Šulić, born in Maribor, Slovenia, are classically trained musicians. They met at a master class in Pula while still in their teens. Šulić—the younger of the two by a year— attended the Academy of Music in Zagreb, and then studied in Vienna. Šulić later entered London's Royal Academy of Music. Hauser attended the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, after completing his studies at Trinity Laban in London.[4]

The duo rose to fame in 2011 after their cover of "Smooth Criminal" became a hit on YouTube,[5] receiving over three million views in the first two weeks[4] and over twenty-seven million views as of Feb 2018.[6] The creation of the music video was prompted by the cellists' financial difficulties, despite their musical success in the UK. One of Hauser's friends in Pula, a director, proposed that they try the pop music market by creating a video to "Smooth Criminal." The video[7] features Šulić and Hauser facing off alone in a large white room, playing Jackson's tune.[4] Before they became partners, the two cellists were sometimes rivals, competing against each other in music contests.[7]

Career

2Cellos signed to record with Sony Masterworks,[8] and finished recording their first album in May 2010,[9] which carried the Menart Records name in Croatia.[10] Released on 19 July 2011,[11] their debut eponymous album, includes covers of songs by U2, Guns N' Roses, Nine Inch Nails, Sting, Coldplay, Nirvana, Muse, and Kings of Leon. Hauser told la Repubblica that the album would also feature a cello version of Michael Jackson's "Human Nature."[4] The duo said that they chose songs that could be arranged as covers playable on just two cellos.[12] In anticipation of the release, 2Cellos released their second single "Welcome to the Jungle," a cover of the Guns N' Roses song of the same name.[7][13] During many of the numbers, they are accompanied by the drummer, Dušan Kranjc, an occasional member of the group.

Luka Šulić

Elton John asked the duo to appear with him on his 2011 summer tour,[5] which began in Cardiff, Wales on 8 June.[4] John, who personally called Šulić, said that he had watched the "Smooth Criminal" video and wanted 2Cellos to participate in his thirty-city tour.[14] The two had previously performed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show of 25 April 2011.[8][15] 2Cellos also performed at the 2011 iTunes Festival in London.[14]

Stjepan Hauser with YAMAHA SVC-110

The duo performed an arrangement of "Smooth Criminal" in the third season of the television show Glee.[16] The episode in which they appeared, titled "Michael", aired on 31 January 2012, and was the first time that the series highlighted instrumental musicians. The scene featuring "Smooth Criminal" was set up similarly to 2Cellos' original music video for the song.[17] On 4 June 2012 2Cellos performed with Elton John at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace. On 12 June 2012 2Cellos performed in front of a full Arena Zagreb.

Although the two usually record covers of rock songs, Šulić and Hauser said they still play with orchestras and will not abandon playing classical music. The cellists said they would someday like to go on tour with both a classical and a contemporary orchestra.[7] Their second studio album, entitled In2ition, came out early in 2013, and featured new twists on a diverse range of classic tracks with a few surprise vocal and instrumental duet partners including Elton John, Lang Lang, Naya Rivera, Steve Vai, Sky Ferreira and Zucchero. The album was produced by Bob Ezrin.

Other tracks include covers of AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" featuring Vai, Coldplay's "Clocks" featuring Lang Lang, Muse's "Supermassive Black Hole" featuring Rivera, an Italian version of "The Book of Love" by The Magnetic Fields entitled "Il Libro Dell'Amore" featuring Zucchero, Karl Jenkins' "Benedictus", and "Oh Well" featuring Sir Elton.[18]

In July 2013, they filmed a commercial for the Japanese mobile phone company, Docomo.[19] Their album In2ition, debuted on the Japanese Albums Chart, in August 2013 at number 1.[20] As a part of their world tour with Elton John, including concerts in North America, Europe and Asia, 2Cellos performed at Madison Square Garden two days in a row, in December 2013.[21] In March 2014, they had a solo Japanese tour.[22]

In 2015, 2Cellos released their third album, Celloverse, which they also co-produced.[23] The album contains a diverse array of renditions including AC/DC's Thunderstruck, Avicii's Wake Me Up, Michael Jackson's They Don't Care About Us, Han's Zimmer's Mombasa (from Inception), and an original work titled Celloverse, among numerous other covers.

2Cellos uses YouTube to reach out to its fans. In addition to producing music videos of their work, they also post videos of notable live performances, including in Arena Zagreb (2012), Arena Pula (2013), EXIT Festival (2014), and their fifth anniversary concert at Arena di Verona (2016). In February 2014, the pair published their rendition of AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" to YouTube. The video depicts the duo playing before a Baroque audience, which soon finds out that the song is anything but classical. The video went viral at the beginning of March, gathering 10 million views in the first two weeks.[24] As of May 2018, the video has garnered over 116 million views.

As Šulić told The Sydney Morning Herald, "we love AC/DC as much as Bach." Hauser added, "both [AC/DC and Bach] are simple and convincing in what they do." [24][25]

In 2017, Sulic and Hauser released their album Score, recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra and including a wide array of television and film music. To mark the album's release, 2Cellos released their official YouTube video for Game of Thrones Medley, which garnered over 1 million views in two days.

On 26th May 2018, 2Cellos performed the UEFA Champions League Anthem ahead of the 2018 UEFA Champions League Final between Real Madrid C.F. and Liverpool F.C.

Discography

Tours

  • The Score World Tour (2017)

Awards

Porin

Year Recipient Award Result Ref.
2012 2Cellos Best International Album Won [26]
"Smooth Criminal" Best International Song Won
2013 In2ition Best International Album Nominated [27]
2014 Live at Arena Zagreb Best International Video Album Won [28]

Japan Gold Disc Award

Year Recipient Award Result Ref.
2014 In2ition Instrumental Album of the Year Won [29]
"Kagemusha" Song of the Year by Download Won [30]

MTV Europe Music Awards

Year Recipient Award Result Ref.
2015 2Cellos Best Adria Act Nominated [31]

Večernjak's Rose

Year Recipient Award Result Ref.
2014 2Cellos Musicians of the Year Won [32]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.2cellos.com/biography/
  2. ↑ Koruga, Igor (14 April 2011). "Hrvatski violončelisti potpisali ugovor sa Sony Music Entertainmentom" [Croatian cellists sign contract with Sony Music Entertainment]. Nacional (in Serbian). Archived from the original on 1 July 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  3. ↑ Glee Season 18: Sean and Catherine's Wedding
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Videtti, Giuseppe (6 June 2011). "Il violoncello da favola di Luka e Stjepan da YouTube ai concerti di Elton John". la Repubblica (in Italian). Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  5. 1 2 "Slovenian, Croatian Cellists Make Breakthrough on YouTube". STA. Slovenian Press Agency. 19 May 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  6. ↑ "Video: Hrvaška violončelista videlo na milijone Američanov". Radiotelevizija Slovenija (in Slovenian). MMC RTV Slovenija. 26 April 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Cervera, Marty (7 June 2011). "Los chelos del pop". El Periódico de Catalunya (in Spanish). Grupo Zeta. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  8. 1 2 "Sony MASTERWORKS Signs Viral Internet Sensation 2CELLOS". TalkTunesworld.com. Wisdom Digital Media. 19 April 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
  9. ↑ "Mariborski čelist bo z Eltonom Johnom nastopil tudi v Izoli". Radiotelevizija Slovenija (in Slovenian). MMC RTV Slovenija. 9 May 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  10. ↑ "2CELLOS Luka Šulic & Stjepan Hausar izdaju album". MTV Croatia (in Croatian). MTV. 16 April 2011. Archived from the original on 20 June 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  11. ↑ D'Andrea, Niki (6 June 2011). ""Welcome to the Jungle," As Performed by 2Cellos". Phoenix New Times. Phoenix New Times, LLC. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  12. ↑ Došen, Vanja (12 April 2011). "Telefonski poziv koji im je promijenio život". Jutarnji list (in Croatian). Europapress Holding. Archived from the original on 4 May 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  13. ↑ Hartsell, Carol (8 June 2011). "2Cellos Covers 'Welcome to the Jungle'". The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  14. 1 2 "2CELLOS snimaju za Sony i sviraju s Eltonom Johnom". tportal.hr (in Croatian). Hrvatski Telekom. 13 April 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  15. ↑ Vugrinec, Goran (25 April 2011). "Vatreni duet nastupio u showu Ellen DeGeneres: Stjepan od žestine slomio gudalo!". Dubrovački Vjesnik (in Croatian). Europapress Holding. Archived from the original on 15 August 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  16. ↑ Keck, William (6 January 2012). "Keck's Exclusives: More Details on Glee's Salute to Michael Jackson". TV Guide. TV Guide Online Holdings, LLC. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  17. ↑ Jurgensen, John (13 January 2012). "The Cello Shredders". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  18. ↑ "The making of the new album IN2ITION". 2Cellos Official Web Site. 5 October 2012. Archived from the original on 5 February 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
  19. ↑ "Pogledajte 2Cellos u reklami japanskog mobilnog operatera". Gloria (in Croatian). 18 July 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
  20. ↑ 2013年08月19日～2013年08月25日の洋楽アルバム週間ランキング (in Japanese). Oricon. 19–25 August 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  21. ↑ "2Cellos su osvojili Madison Square Garden u New Yorku" (in Croatian). 24sata. 4 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  22. ↑ "2Cellos u Madison Square Gardenu" (in Croatian). Radio Pula. 3 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  23. ↑ Masterworks, Portrait/Sony Music. "2CELLOS Create A New Dimension With Celloverse Album Available January 27, 2015". prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2017-02-05.
  24. 1 2 "Naši dečki ruše rekorde – na Youtubeu imaju više 10 mil. pogleda!" (in Croatian). Dnevnik.hr. 25 March 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  25. ↑ "2Cellos offer fresh takes on old favorites". Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  26. ↑ "2Cellos primili osvojene Porine" (in Croatian). dulist.hr. 30 May 2013. Archived from the original on 13 July 2013. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  27. ↑ "FOTO: 2Cellos snimili novi spot za pjesmu Technical Difficulties" (in Croatian). Net.hr. 13 July 2013.
  28. ↑ "Objavljene nominacije za 21. Porin" (in Croatian). Porin. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  29. ↑ "The Japan Gold Disc Award 2014/Instrumental Album of the Year". RIAJ (in Japanese). 28 February 2014.
  30. ↑ "The Japan Gold Disc Award 2014/Song of the Year by Download". RIAJ (in Japanese). Retrieved 2014-07-09.
  31. ↑ "2CELLOS i Hladno pivo među nominiranima za MTV Best Adria Act!". Glas Slavonije (in Croatian). 18 September 2015.
  32. ↑ "Dodijeljene Večernjakove ruže, pogledajte tko su dobitnici". Večernji list (in Croatian). 21 March 2014.
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