Cellist’s favorite language: Music
Classically trained 2Cellos gained millions of fans after the duo released its version of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” on YouTube.
Signed to Sony Music Masterworks, the group’s latest CD, “Score,” features the duo’s take on classic songs from films (“Titanic,” “Chariots of Fire”) and television (“Game of Thrones”). During a break from rehearsal, Luka Sulic phoned from his home in Slovenia for this interview. “Stjepan (Hauser) is based in Croatia, and that’s where our studio that we record in is,” said Sulic, 29. “So we travel a lot for work. But we love it. Over the past few years, the best reward for us has been doing something that seems to inspire a younger generation to play an instrument or make music. That’s the best reward you can get, and we are very happy when parents tell us that their children started playing music because of us.”
An edited version of our conversation follows.
A: Our fans are wonderful and appreciate what we do. I think maybe the fans in the United States are very loud, particularly in Middle America. Texans are very loud, but we love it. They are very enthusiastic in South America too. It’s wonderful.
A: In the Balkans, people have to understand each other, so I speak a lot of languages, but it’s mostly for the Balkan region. (Laughs) I speak Slovenian and Croatian, which is basically the same as Serbian and Bosnian. I speak English, Italian and a little German. But we speak with music. It’s a language everyone can understand, and it is the most important language for us.
A: We try to get a little time to try the local restaurants and see what the locals suggest as something very beautiful. I really seek out nature, so I like to visit beaches and national parks, anything outdoors.
A: This past December, we had a concert in Auckland. I took two weeks off and drove through New Zealand and got to see so
Qmany beautiful parts of the country. I noticed they had all these shops selling All Blacks (rugby) merchandise. I didn’t get to attend, though.
A: I would love to visit South Africa one day. I would like to visit Iceland and also see the fiords in Norway. There are many places in the United States I would like to visit too. I visited Joshua’s Tree, and it was just beautiful. I want to go to North Dakota. I haven’t been to Yellowstone yet. I want to see all the great national parks you have there. I want to spend time in Arizona.
A. Queenstown, New Zealand; my hometown of Maribor, Slovenia; Dubrovnik, Croatia; and I really like London and Las Vegas.