2Cellos and Elton John
Sulic and Hauser have played the cello since childhood; Sulic graduated from the acclaimed Royal Academy of Music in London, and Hauser from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, both in 2011. Sulic has won a series of top prizes at numerous prestigious international music competitions including First and Special Prize at the VII Lutoslawski International Cello Competition in Warsaw (2009), First Prize at the European Broadcasting Union “New Talent” Competition (2006) and First Prize at the Royal Academy of Music Patron’s Award in Wigmore Hall (2011) among others. Hauser has worked with acclaimed classical artists such as Mstislav Rostropovich, Bernard Greenhouse, Mennahem Pressler and Ivry Gitlis, to mention a few. He has collected no less than twenty-one first prizes at the national and international music competitions and performed twice for Prince Charles in Buckingham and St. James’s Pallace. Both have individually appeared in major classical music venues throughout the world including Wigmore Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Southbank Center, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Vienna’s Musikverein and Konzerthaus.
Luka and Stjepan started planning “a crazy idea to arrange some pop songs with two cellos”, and in December 2010, under the name 2CELLOS, they made a video of their unique arrangement of Michael Jackson’s epic song Smooth Criminal from the 1987 Bad album. Posting their video on YouTube, they achieved over 3,000,000 hits within three weeks. Then, Luka says, “everything happened so fast. Offers came from everywhere. We signed with Sony, recorded an album and went to America to perform Smooth Criminal on the Ellen (Degeneres) show.”
Luka says Smooth Criminal is, “harder to play than any classical piece, and it’s the toughest piece. It’s on the edge — people seem to like the intensity and energy. We use just the cellos as our voices. To create the intensity needed to make two cellos sound like a whole band is not easy!” Their debut album, which was released in the summer of 2011, features Luka and Stjepan’s arrangements of songs by artists including Michael Jackson, U2, Guns N Roses, Sting and Kings of Leon.
The Principal of the Royal Academy of Music had mentioned the Smooth Criminal video to Elton’s management, and when Elton saw it he contacted the duo and asked if they would like to join him and the band on their 2011 European tour. Luka and Stjepan agreed, and in June 2011 2CELLOS went into the rehearsal studios with Elton band members Davey Johnstone and Kim Bullard to “work on ideas and make something together”, as Luka says.
In amongst continuing to perform as part of the Elton John Band during The Million Dollar Piano shows in Las Vegas, 2CELLOS have just completed their own solo European headline tour in support of their new album, In2ition (which features a guest vocal by Elton on the song Oh, Well), and are doing a US tour in April 2013. As Elton says, “Go and see them live, because it really is astonishing! I can’t remember seeing anything as exciting as them since I saw Jimi Hendrix live back in the ’60s.”
The Union Tour - 2011-2012
When The Union tour picked back up in the summer of 2011, the band had grown by two cellos. Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser (known collectively as 2Cellos) had recently become YouTube sensations with their remarkable rendition of Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal, and as soon as Elton saw their video he knew he wanted them to participate in his summer tour of Great Britain and Europe. A call was made, and after rehearsals in England, they played their first show at the Cardiff International Arena in Wales on June 8. It immediately became clear that 2Cellos’ enthusiasm and imagination were a perfect fit for the band, and Elton invited them to continue on as the tour moved to the US in September and then around the globe from December on through July, 2012.
Along the way, on November 25, 2011, Elton and the band played their southernmost concert to date at the Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand. And on June 4, 2012, they were honored to be a featured part of Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee, playing I’m Still Standing, Crocodile Rock and Your Song in front of Buckingham Palace as part of a day-long concert that was telecast around the world.
The 2012 UK and Europe Summer Tour ran from June 1, at the Hessentagsarena in Wetzlar, Germany, to July 21 at the Arènes de Nîmes in France. It was during the hiatus following this tour that bassist Bob Birch shockingly committed suicide in Los Angeles.
The Million Dollar Piano Tour - 2011-2012
Elton returned to Caesars Palace on September 28, 2011, with an entirely new production called The Million Dollar Piano. Even more elaborately staged than his previous residency, The Red Piano, this 19-song concert featured Elton’s current touring band and background singers, the addition of percussionist Ray Cooper, a “hyper-Baroque” stage set, and…well…a million dollar piano.
The instrument, actually costing $1.3 million, was custom-built by Yamaha over a period of years and has 68 LED video screens wrapped around its 10.4 foot long casing. During the show, as Elton plays “Blossom” (named after noted jazz pianist Blossom Dearie), the piano exterior displays images that synchronize with the music and the videos that run on the gargantuan stage backdrop. For example, he can play just a few notes of Daniel, and a film of a jumbo jet flying off into
the distance (as if “heading for Spain”) appears on the side of the piano. Or he can strike the first couple of chords to Don’t Go Breaking My Heart and all of a sudden the audience is watching the 1975 video of that song — as Elton exclaims, “Kiki Dee has never played Las Vegas…until now!”
Several songs that had not been included in The Red Piano were in the set list: Levon, Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters (which showcased 2Cellos’ talents), Better Off Dead and Indian Sunset (both bringing the spotlight to Ray Cooper), Blue Eyes, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Hey Ahab, I’m Still Standing and, as an eye-popping encore, Circle Of Life.
The seventh night of The Million Dollar Piano coincided with Elton’s 3000th career concert performance. Dubbed “EJ3K,” the night was celebrated by a glowstick-waving audience. Elton noted the achievement, “This is my 3,000th show… no wonder my hands are so small!”
The Million Dollar Piano Tour - 2012
After the tragic death of Bob Birch on August 15, 2012, fellow bassist and close friend Matt Bissonette joined the Elton John Band. Following two weeks of rehearsals, Matt’s fist concert was on September 11 at Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson… the beginning of a brief Fall 2012 tour of the United States.
On September 21, Elton and the band played a stellar 15-song set at Wembley Stadium in London for the Peace One Day concert, which was netcast globally on YouTube. After almost two months off, the tour then resumed when Elton opened the new Perth Arena and continued on through Australia and Asia until concluding at the IMPACT Arena in Bangkok, Thailand on December 13.
Elton’s Million Dollar Piano show returned to The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on October 10, 2012 with a slightly different band than he had when he last played there in May – bassist Matt Bissonette having replaced the late Bob Birch.
The October 2012 engagement began with Elton’s 282nd concert at The Colosseum and finished for the year on October 28. It was during this residency that Elton replaced Blue Eyes with Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny), which featured rare film footage of John Lennon on stage with Elton at Madison Square Garden in November, 1974.
The Million Dollar Piano Tour - 2013-2014
2013 began for Elton and the band (albiet without 2Cellos, who were promoting their recently-released CD, In2ition) with a knockout tour of South America, which began on February 27 at the Jockey Club in São Paulo, Brazil. As he had done at previous concerts in this country, Elton slipped Skyline Pigeon into the set, due to its having been a very successful single in Brazil in 1972. The South American tour, which drew incredibly passionate audiences throughout, finished at Mineirão Stadium in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, on March 9, 2013.
A mere week later, Elton and the band went back out on the road with a series of concerts in the US, starting at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, TN, on March 16. For these shows, as he had done in South America, Elton performed a solo version of The One, which had not been played in the US in a number of years.
Elton and the band played 27 Million Dollar Piano shows during the spring and autumn of 2013. In 2014, Elton and the band enjoyed continued success during their only run of the year (from March 29 to April 26), bringing the Million Dollar Piano total to 91 shows to date.
Sources: http://www.eltonjohn.com/
http://www.2cellos.com/
(Edited)