Luka Sulic

Cellist Luka Šulić is best known as a member of the internationally successful crossover cello duo 2Cellos. He also has a flourishing career as a solo cellist with the traditional repertory. Šulić was born on August 25, 1987, in Maribor, Slovenia. Luka's father, Bozo Šulić, is a cellist from Dubrovnik, Croatia, and Luka has dual Croatian and Slovenian citizenship (his mother, Alja is Slovenian). Luka began taking cello lessons at the age of five. He studied at the Music Academy in Zagreb, Croatia, working with Valter Despalj (at 15, he was one of the school's youngest students in its history). He later moved to Vienna for work with Reinhard Latzko, and then to London to study with Mats Lidstrom at the Royal Academy of Music. He earned a master's degree there in 2011. Šulić was heavily garlanded with prizes early in his career. Among others, he earned first prize at the European Broadcasting Union's New Talent Competition in 2006, first and special prizes at the Lutosławski International Cello Competition in Warsaw in 2009, and first prize at the Royal Academy's Patron's Award competition, held at Wigmore Hall, in 2011. Šulić began, and has continued, a distinguished career as a solo cellist, making appearances across Europe, Japan, and South America, appearing in such prestigious venues as the Vienna Musikverein, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, and London's Wigmore Hall. He has played concertos with the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and other major ensembles. Šulić's career took a new turn in 2011 when he teamed with Stjepan Hauser, probably his strongest rival among young cellists from the Balkan region. The pair formed the duo 2Cellos (sometimes stylized as 2CELLOS) and uploaded a duo-cello version of Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal to YouTube, and it went viral, racking up some seven million views within weeks (as of late 2019 it had accumulated 33 million). Major celebrities including American television host Ellen DeGeneres (who invited the pair to appear on her show) and Elton John (who booked 2Cellos as the opening act on his 2011 world tour) took note of the charismatic young duo with the matinee-idol looks, and they were soon signed to the Sony Classical label. The duo had recorded five internationally successful albums by the late 2010s, including Let There Be Cello (2018), mixing cello covers of popular songs with film score excerpts and occasionally classical material. In 2019, Šulić released his first solo album, featuring a cello arrangement of Vivaldi's Four Seasons violin concertos, on Sony Classical. ~ James Manheim