2Cellos

2Cellos

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2Cellos in Glendale, California in 2011.
Background information
Origin Zagreb, Croatia[1]
Genres Cello rock, classical, chamber music, instrumental rock
Years active 2011 (2011)–present
Labels Sony Masterworks
Website 2cellos.com
Members Luka Šulić
Stjepan Hauser

2Cellos (stylized 2CELLOS) is a Croatian[2][3] cello duo, consisting of classically trained Luka Šulić and Stjepan Hauser. Signed to Sony Masterworks since 2011, they released three albums and play mainly instrumental arrangements of well-known pop and rock songs.[4] The duo perform internationally and have been featured on several US TV shows including Glee and The Bachelor.[5]

Background

Šulić, born in Maribor, SR Slovenia (now Slovenia)[6] and Hauser, born in Pula, SR Croatia (now Croatia), both classically trained musicians, met at a master class in Croatia 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 College in London.[7]

The duo rose to fame after their cover of "Smooth Criminal" became a hit on YouTube,[8] receiving over three million views in the first two weeks[7] and over seventeen million views as of March 2016.[9] The creation of the music video was prompted by the cellists' financial difficulties, despite their musical success in the UK. The duo met in Pula, where one of Hauser's friends, a director, proposed that they try the pop music market by creating a video to "Smooth Criminal." The video, originally posted on 20 January 2011,[10] features Šulić and Hauser facing off alone in a large white room, playing Jackson's tune.[7] In fact, before they became partners, the two cellists were sometimes considered rivals, competing against each other in music contests.[10]

Career

2Cellos is currently signed to record label Sony Masterworks,[11] and finished recording their first album in May 2011,[12] which carried the Menart Records name in Croatia.[13] Released on 19 July 2011,[14] 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."[7] The duo said that they chose songs that could be adapted into covers playable on only two cellos.[15] 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.[10][16] During many of the numbers performed, they are accompanied by the drummer, Dušan Kranjc, who is an occasional member of the group.

Luka Šulić

Elton John asked the duo to appear with him on his 2011 summer tour,[8] which began in Cardiff, Wales on 8 June.[7] John, who personally called Šulić, said that he had watched the "Smooth Criminal" video and wanted 2Cellos to participate in the thirty-city tour.[17] The two had previously performed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show of 25 April 2011.[11][18] 2Cellos also performed at the 2011 iTunes Festival in London.[17]

Stjepan Hauser with YAMAHA SVC-110

The duo performed an arrangement of "Smooth Criminal" in the third season of the television show Glee.[19] 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 similar to 2Cellos' original music video for the song.[20] 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 full Arena Zagreb.

Although the two record covers of mainly rock songs, Šulić and Hauser say they still play with orchestras and will not abandon playing classical music. The cellists say they would someday like to go on tour with both a classical and a contemporary orchestra.[10] Their second studio album, entitled In2ition, came out early 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.[21]

In July 2013, the duo filmed a commercial for the Japanese mobile phone company, Docomo.[22] Their second album, In2ition, debuted at number 1 on the Japanese Albums Chart, in August 2013.[23] As a part of their world tour with Elton John, that included concerts in North America, Europe and Asia, 2Cellos performed at Madison Square Garden two days in a row, in December 2013.[24] In March 2014, they had a solo Japanese tour.[25]

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 music starts with a Baroque type melody after Vivaldi, but soon the pace increases to the level of presto, with semi-quavers played at a great speed. Sometime cooperating, sometime competing, the motive "Thunder" is played via chords on a cello, whereas at the same time the other cello produces the sound of a rock band. A middle-east melody is juxtaposed, and (prerecorded) segments are fused in. The music ends with the cellos imitating the sound of electronic organ and guitar. It is typical of the "BaRock" style (Baroque + Hard Rock).[26][27] The video went viral in the beginning of March, gathering 10 million views in the first two weeks.[28]

As Šulić told to 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." [28][29] In January 2015, they released their third studio album, Celloverse, which they also co-produced.

Discography

Main article: 2Cellos discography

Accolades

Porin

Main article: Porin (music award)
Year Recipient Award Result Ref.
2012 2Cellos Best International Album Won [30]
"Smooth Criminal" Best International Song Won
2013 In2ition Best International Album Nominated [31]
2014 Live at Arena Zagreb Best International Video Album Won [32]

Japan Gold Disc Award

Main article: Japan Gold Disc Award
Year Recipient Award Result Ref.
2014 In2ition Instrumental Album of the Year Won [33]
"Kagemusha" Song of the Year by Download Won [34]

MTV Europe Music Awards

Year Recipient Award Result Ref.
2015 2Cellos Best Adria Act Nominated [35]

Večernjak's Rose

Main article: Večernji list
Year Recipient Award Result Ref.
2014 2Cellos Musicians of the Year Won [36]

References

  1. ↑ 20:05 GMT (2015-02-28). "BBC World Service - Outlook Arts, 2Cellos, Violin Virtuso, Harlem Jazz". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
  2. ↑ "2Cellos Bio". 2cellos.com. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  3. ↑ "Time Out Hong Kong | Music | Interview: 2Cellos". Timeout.com.hk. 2015-07-07. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
  4. ↑ Koruga, Igor (14 April 2011). "Hrvatski violončelisti potpisali ugovor sa Sony Music Entertainmentom" [Croatian cellists sign contract with Sony Music Entertainment]. Nacional (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 1 July 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  5. ↑ Glee Season 18: Sean and Catherine's Wedding
  6. ↑ "Biografija Luke Šulića". matica.hr (in Croatian) (Matica hrvatska).
  7. 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.
  8. 1 2 "Slovenian, Croatian Cellists Make Breakthrough on YouTube". STA (Slovenian Press Agency). 19 May 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  9. ↑ "Video: Hrvaška violončelista videlo na milijone Američanov". Radiotelevizija Slovenija (in Slovenian) (MMC RTV Slovenija). 26 April 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  10. 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.
  11. 1 2 "Sony MASTERWORKS Signs Viral Internet Sensation 2CELLOS". TalkTunesworld.com (Wisdom Digital Media). 19 April 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
  12. ↑ "Mariborski čelist bo z Eltonom Johnom nastopil tudi v Izoli". Radiotelevizija Slovenija (in Slovenian) (MMC RTV Slovenija). 9 May 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  13. ↑ "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.
  14. ↑ 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.
  15. ↑ Došen, Vanja (12 April 2011). "Telefonski poziv koji im je promijenio život". Jutarnji list (in Croatian) (Europapress Holding). Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  16. ↑ Hartsell, Carol (8 June 2011). "2Cellos Covers 'Welcome to the Jungle'". The Huffington Post (TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.). Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  17. 1 2 "2CELLOS snimaju za Sony i sviraju s Eltonom Johnom". tportal.hr (in Croatian) (Hrvatski Telekom). 13 April 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  18. ↑ Vugrinec, Goran (25 April 2011). "Vatreni duet nastupio u showu Ellen DeGeneres: Stjepan od žestine slomio gudalo!". Dubrovački Vjesnik (in Croatian) (Europapress Holding). Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  19. ↑ 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.
  20. ↑ Jurgensen, John (13 January 2012). "The Cello Shredders". The Wall Street Journal (Dow Jones & Company, Inc.). Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  21. ↑ "The making of the new album IN2ITION". 2Cellos Official Web Site. 5 October 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
  22. ↑ "Pogledajte 2Cellos u reklami japanskog mobilnog operatera". Gloria (in Croatian). 18 July 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
  23. ↑ 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.
  24. ↑ "2Cellos su osvojili Madison Square Garden u New Yorku" (in Croatian). 24sata. 4 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  25. ↑ "2Cellos u Madison Square Gardenu" (in Croatian). Radio Pula. 3 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  26. ↑ "'Thunderstruck' video by 2Cellos also video by AC/DC". Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  27. ↑ "Thunderstruck in the BaRock Style (by 2CELLOS)". Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  28. 1 2 "Naši dečki ruše rekorde – na Youtubeu imaju više 10 mil. pogleda!" (in Croatian). Dnevnik.hr. 25 March 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  29. ↑ "2Cellos offer fresh takes on old favorites". Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  30. ↑ "2Cellos primili osvojene Porine" (in Croatian). dulist.hr. 30 May 2013. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  31. ↑ "FOTO: 2Cellos snimili novi spot za pjesmu Technical Difficulties" (in Croatian). Net.hr. 13 July 2013.
  32. ↑ "Objavljene nominacije za 21. Porin" (in Croatian). Porin. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  33. ↑ "The Japan Gold Disc Award 2014/Instrumental Album of the Year". RIAJ (in Japanese). 28 February 2014.
  34. ↑ "The Japan Gold Disc Award 2014/Song of the Year by Download". RIAJ (in Japanese). Retrieved 2014-07-09.
  35. ↑ "2CELLOS i Hladno pivo među nominiranima za MTV Best Adria Act!". Glas Slavonije (in Croatian). 18 September 2015.
  36. ↑ "Dodijeljene Večernjakove ruže, pogledajte tko su dobitnici". Večernji list (in Croatian). 21 March 2014.

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