It’s a string thing for cello duo
2Cellos are a smash wherever they go, and they’re coming here.
When Luka Šuliæ and Stjepan Hauser were studying music in England, they could not have imagined howf ar a 6-pound string instrument would take them.
The classically trained Croatian musicians developed 2Cellos out of an idea that performing instrumental versions of wellknown songs might stir their creativity while broadening their audience at the same time. Soldout shows and more than1.3 million subscribers to 2Cellos’ YouTube channel reveal howwell the popularity of Šuliæ and Hauser’s works translate.
2Cellos will perform Friday at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach.
“We felt our imagination and creativity are limited by playing only one kind of music,” Hauser says via email. “We always like all different kinds of music, including rock, pop, film music, etc. The cello is such a universal instrument. It has so many possibilities and is capable of doing so many different things, different sounds, effects.”
The effect of 2Cellos is noticeable. Released last year, “Celloverse’’ is the duo’s third studio album, following “2Cellos’’ in 2011 and “In2ition’’ in 2012.
Šuliæ and Hauser have honored their musical influences by doing instrumental versions of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” (53 million YouTube views) and “Highway to Hell” (14.6 million views), Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” (12.4 million views), and U2’s “With or Without You” and “Where the Streets Have No Name.”
Their street cred, though, started with a version of a Michael Jackson song thatwas released in1987, the year that Šuliæ, 28, was born and one year after Hauser, 29, came into this world. 2Cellos’ version of “Smooth Criminal” appeared on their first album five years ago and has accumulated 17 million views on YouTube and led to an invitation from Elton John to tour with him.
“Itwas our introduction to the world,” says Hauser, whose first name is pronounced Step-an.
Šuliæ and Hauser have played the cello, whose origins date to the 16th century, since childhood. Šuliæ graduated fromthe Royal Academy of Music in London, while Hauser studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England.
Their stop in West Palm Beach is part of a three-month, 41-city tour of North America that began Jan. 29 in Morristown, N.J., and is not scheduled to end until April 24 in Colorado Springs, Colo.
“Our shows are filled with such a wide variety of music fans— young people, couples, older folks into classical music, younger teens who love rock music,” Hauser says. “It’s a fun crowd. We love all of our fans.”
Mitchell adds :“In my experience, music fans are less compartmentalized when it comes to their tastes thanwe give them credit for.” Šuliæ and Hauser enjoy playing the classics. “It’s completely new to us,” Hauser says. “We never experienced this madness before in our lives.”
2Cellos will perform 8 p.m. Feb. 5 at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, 701Okeechobee Blvd., in West Palm Beach. Tickets start at $29. Call 561-832-7469 or go to Kravis.org.