2Cellos (HR)

About

Also known as: 2 Cellos, 2Cellos

Few classical musicians have racked up tens of millions of YouTube views on the back of a Michael Jackson cover, but that is exactly how Croatian cellist duo 2Cellos announced themselves to the world. Luka Šulić and Stjepan Hauser built their name by taking rock and pop songs and rearranging them for two cellos, resulting in everything from Guns N' Roses to Nirvana to AC/DC getting the full cello treatment. Their viral 'Smooth Criminal' video caught Elton John's attention so quickly that he personally rang Šulić and invited the duo onto his 2011 summer tour, kicking off a five year run of performances together. Over six albums with Sony Masterworks, 2Cellos kept expanding their range, pulling in guest collaborators like Steve Vai, Lang Lang and Zucchero for their second record, and co producing the third album Celloverse themselves. They showed up on Glee, played the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace, and packed out arenas from Zagreb to Madison Square Garden. The duo wrapped up their final tour in 2022 before splitting to pursue solo careers, but the catalogue they left behind covers an impressive stretch of territory from AC/DC riffs to Hans Zimmer film scores.