Luka Šulić will bring his LIFE live show and a nine piece orchestra to Perth, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in December 2026.
by Paul Cashmere
Croatian-Slovenian cellist Luka Šulić will return to Australia in December 2026 for a four-date national tour built around his solo album LIFE, with performances scheduled for Perth, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. The tour will feature Šulić performing with a nine piece orchestra, marking a different musical setting from the large-scale work that established his international profile with 2CELLOS.
The Australian dates centre on LIFE, Šulić’s 2024 album released through Platoon. The record represents a return to composition for the cellist, combining his classical training with a broader musical vocabulary. The album’s sound is built around strings and cello, reflecting Šulić’s continuing interest in extending the instrument beyond conventional classical repertoire.
For the Australian concerts, the nine piece orchestra provides the larger ensemble framework for the LIFE material. The shows will also draw on Šulić’s experience performing both as a solo classical musician and as part of 2CELLOS.
Šulić’s career has moved between those two worlds for more than two decades. He began studying cello in Maribor at the age of five, initially taught by his father, Božo Šulić, who is also a cellist. At 15, Luka Šulić entered the Music Academy in Zagreb, where he studied with Professor Valter Dešpalj and graduated at 18.
He subsequently continued his studies in Vienna with Reinhard Latzko before completing a master’s degree with Mats Lidström at London’s Royal Academy of Music in 2011.
Competition success established Šulić as a serious classical musician before his wider public profile developed. He won first prize at the European Broadcasting Union’s New Talent Competition in 2006 and took first and special prizes at the VII Lutosławski International Cello Competition in Warsaw in 2009. In 2011, he won the Royal Academy of Music Patron’s Award at Wigmore Hall.
His solo career has included performances at major European venues including London’s Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Vienna’s Musikverein and Konzerthaus. He has also appeared as a soloist with orchestras including the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic and Deutsche Radio Philharmonie.
The defining change in his career came in 2011 when Šulić joined forces with fellow cellist Stjepan Hauser. The pair uploaded their cello arrangement of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” to YouTube in January that year. The performance rapidly attracted millions of views and led to a recording contract with Sony Masterworks and an invitation to tour with Elton John.
As 2CELLOS, Šulić and Hauser released five albums between 2011 and 2018, moving across classical music, pop, rock and film repertoire. Their appearance on Glee in 2012, performing “Smooth Criminal” during a Michael Jackson tribute episode, further expanded their audience. Their arrangement subsequently reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 Digital Songs chart.
After the 2CELLOS US tour concluded in 2019, Šulić shifted his attention towards independent work. That year he released Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, an album recorded in Rome with the Archi dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia under conductor Luigi Piovano. Šulić had spent two years arranging Vivaldi’s compositions for cello while continuing to tour with 2CELLOS.
From 2019 to 2022, Šulić also toured Europe and Asia with pianist Evgeny Genchev, performing arrangements spanning classical and popular music.
LIFE followed that period of exploration, with Šulić returning to original composition rather than concentrating solely on arrangements of established works. His musical influences extend from composers such as Beethoven to contemporary pop songwriter and producer Max Martin, reflecting the range of material that has informed his development as a performer.
The Australian tour therefore places Šulić’s current solo work at the centre of a career that has included elite classical competition, orchestral performance, contemporary crossover music and one of the most recognisable cello duos of the past decade and a half.
The four Australian performances will take place in December, with tickets available from TEG Dainty from 11am local time on 11 September.
Tour Dates
2 December 2026, Perth, Astor Theatre
3 December 2026, Brisbane, Fortitude Music Hall
6 December 2026, Sydney, Enmore Theatre
7 December 2026, Melbourne, Melbourne Recital Centre
Ticket Details
Tickets go on sale Friday 11 September 2026 at Tickets go on sale Friday 11 September 2026 at 11am local time through TEG Dainty. local time through TEG Dainty.
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