2Cellos

Lore & Background

Hauser is from Pula, Croatia, and Šulić is from Maribor, Slovenia (born to a Croatian father and Slovenian mother). They met at a master class in Pula while still in their teens. Both were educated at the Academy of Music in Zagreb; Šulić later studied in Vienna, and both studied in the UK (Šulić at London's Royal Academy of Music, Hauser at Trinity College of Music and then the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester). Before becoming partners, they were sometimes considered rivals, competing against each other in music competitions.

The duo rose to fame in 2011 after their cover of 'Smooth Criminal' became a hit on YouTube, receiving over three million views in the first two weeks. The video features Šulić and Hauser performing together in a large ballroom littered with chairs.

Reader's Guide

2Cellos achieved international recognition by adapting popular music for two cellos, bridging classical training and contemporary appeal. Their YouTube success with 'Smooth Criminal' led to collaborations with Elton John and appearances on television shows like Glee, expanding their audience beyond classical music fans. They released six studio albums under Sony Masterworks, each featuring covers of rock, pop, and film music, often with guest artists such as Elton John, Lang Lang, and Steve Vai. Their performances at major events, including the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert and the UEFA Champions League Final, underscored their broad appeal. The duo's use of YouTube to share live performances, such as the viral 'Thunderstruck' video with over 200 million views, demonstrated effective digital engagement. Their farewell tour marked the end of their partnership, but both members continue as solo performers. Their legacy lies in popularizing cello-driven instrumental covers and demonstrating the viability of classical musicians in mainstream entertainment.

Did You Know?

• Their cover of 'Smooth Criminal' received over three million views in its first two weeks on YouTube.
• Elton John personally called Šulić after seeing the 'Smooth Criminal' video and invited them on his 2011 summer tour.
• They performed the UEFA Champions League Anthem ahead of the 2018 UEFA Champions League Final.
• Their album In2ition debuted at number 1 on the Japanese Albums Chart in August 2013.

From Rivals to Partners: The Making of a Duo

Stjepan Hauser grew up in Pula, Croatia, while Luka Šulić was born in Maribor, Slovenia, to a Croatian father and Slovenian mother. Their paths first crossed at a master class in Pula when both were still teenagers, and from that encounter a musical bond began to form. Both men pursued formal training at the Academy of Music in Zagreb before branching out across Europe: Šulić spent time in Vienna and later at London's Royal Academy of Music, while Hauser trained at Trinity College of Music in London and subsequently at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. What made their partnership remarkable was that, before ever performing together, the two were regarded as competitors, facing off against one another in music competitions. That rivalry never fully dissolved; it simply transformed into a creative tension that fueled their performances. Their shared Croatian cultural roots, combined with rigorous classical training on multiple continents, gave them a foundation that would later allow them to reimagine rock and pop repertoire on just two instruments without sacrificing technical depth.

The Smooth Criminal Moment and a Debut Album

In 2011, a simple YouTube upload changed everything. A director who knew Hauser in Croatia helped produce a video of the duo performing Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" in a vast, empty ballroom strewn with overturned chairs. The clip exploded online, pulling in more than three million views within just two weeks and eventually approaching 43 million by April 2021. The viral success caught the attention of Sony Masterworks, which signed the pair that same year. They completed recording their self-titled debut album in May 2011, released on 19 July under the Menart Records label in Croatia. The record features cello arrangements of songs by U2, Guns N' Roses, Nine Inch Nails, Sting, Coldplay, Nirvana, Muse, and Kings of Leon, alongside a take on Jackson's "Human Nature." The duo explained that they deliberately selected tracks that could be convincingly arranged for only two cellos. Their second single, a cover of Guns N' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle," was issued in anticipation of the album's arrival, cementing their identity as a group that could make heavy rock feel intimate and orchestral.

From Buckingham Palace to Madison Square Garden

The Smooth Criminal video did not merely generate views; it opened doors at the highest levels of global performance. Elton John personally called Šulić after watching the clip and invited 2Cellos to join his thirty-city 2011 summer tour, which kicked off in Cardiff, Wales. Over the next five years, the duo accompanied John and his band through hundreds of shows, including a long residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, where they also appeared in the 2012 film The Million Dollar Piano and contributed to his 2013 album The Diving Board. Their reach extended into television when the Glee episode "Michael" aired in January 2012, marking the first time that series spotlighted instrumental musicians, with a scene deliberately echoing their original ballroom video. In June 2012 they performed at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace alongside John, and by December 2013 they had played Madison Square Garden on two consecutive nights. Their 2013 album In2ition, produced by Bob Ezrin, brought in collaborators such as Lang Lang, Steve Vai, Naya Rivera, and Zucchero, and it debuted at number one on the Japanese Albums Chart.

Bach and AC/DC: A Philosophy of the Cello

Throughout their career, 2Cellos maintained a guiding principle: the cello need not be confined to one genre. Šulić told The Sydney Morning Herald, "we love AC/DC as much as Bach," and Hauser added that both are "simple and convincing in what they do." That ethos shaped every project, from their 2015 album Celloverse, which they co-produced and which included renditions of Avicii's "Wake Me Up" and Hans Zimmer's "Mombasa" from Inception, to their 2017 release Score, recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra and dedicated to film and television themes. They consistently emphasized that they would never abandon classical music, still performing with orchestras and expressing a long-held wish to tour with both a classical and a contemporary ensemble—a goal partially realized during the Score tour. YouTube became their primary channel for sharing live moments, from Arena Zagreb in 2012 to their fifth-anniversary concert at Arena di Verona in 2016. The Thunderstruck video, released in early 2014 with a comedic Baroque-audience premise, surpassed 200 million views by 2021. Today, Šulić and Hauser continue their work as solo performers, carrying forward the duo's spirit of fearless genre-blending.

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