BY HEATHCLIFFE AUCHINACHIE
In the About section of TwoSet Violin’s YouTube channel, there are just three sentences written: “We play violin. We love classical music. We love to Practice.”
These statements have remained at the core of TwoSet’s work since their genesis in 2014. Beneath the humour and antics of their online content, there exists a serious commitment to promoting classical music and practice. As a result, the duo has exposed millions of people to classical music, and made the struggles of classical musicians more relatable.
This “relatable ‘imperfectness’”, as TwoSet’s Brett Yang and Eddy Chen call it, has helped garner them fans from all over the globe, with 7 million followers across their social media. But perhaps another contributing factor to the Australian violinists’ success has been their willingness to learn and try new things.
In 2017, TwoSet successfully undertook the first-ever crowdfunded world tour of classical music. In addition, they were livestreaming and interacting with audiences well before the COVID-19 pandemic. Continuing to innovate and adapt, TwoSet recently announced their first-ever Virtual World Tour, coming up in December.
Brett and Eddy sat down with us to talk about creating a virtual experience, their current success, and what young classical music listeners want.
Congratulations TwoSet on announcing your first-ever Virtual World Tour. How did you find the experience of adapting your live show for an online audience?
Thank you! We’ve definitely spent a lot of time thinking about how it would look and feel when we plan the show.
It’s interesting to see the challenges that a virtual tour presents, such as the visuals, the setup, the locations, and the script. However, the upside is definitely bringing the gift of music to way more people!
We’re really excited to share our show with everyone in December.
How did you even begin to put together a show like this?
Haha! To be honest, that was also our first question! How do we even start?
We started thinking about our fans, and how they would like to experience the whole concert. That way, we can work out what we need to do to make it the best possible experience for them.
You’ve said in a statement about this tour that you wanted to take your time planning, and that you wanted to make your content “unique and interesting” in light of the uptake in livestreaming in the past year. How have you found that challenge of continuing to carve out your own space online, now that it’s become filled with so much activity in classical music?
We think having so much classical music is a fantastic thing.
First of all, we want to shout out to all our amazing fans. They are very supportive with what we do, and the community is so talented and awesome! We’re inspired by them. Truly, the stuff we put out feels like a conversation with classical music lovers — for example, us playing fan compositions, responding to forums, et cetera — so it feels natural to us.
We’re also always up for a challenge, so finding new creative ways to make content is always fun!
The balance between practice and admin is something all musicians grapple with – but your careers send this challenge into overdrive. How do you balance the administration, content editing, and sketch preparation required for your videos, with practising your instruments to maintain your high standard?
Good question! [Laughs] We don’t know, either. People always tell us we work way too much but, to be honest, it doesn’t feel like it because we love it so much.
We think if there’s a purpose, we can always figure it out!
A joint report between the British Phonographic Industry, Deezer, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra stated that in 2020, one-third of classical music streamers were in the 18-25 range — when just a decade ago, under-30s only made up one-tenth of listeners. Why do you think more young people are being drawn to classical music?
Wow, that’s awesome stats!
We like to think that there’s always been interest in classical music amongst young people, just that perhaps in the past they felt intimidated or lacked the knowledge to explore the genre.
Definitely with more accessible content online, people are finding new ways to interact with classical music in unique and quirky ways!
I’ve read that your violin playing is influenced by players such as David Oistrakh and Maxim Vengerov. What influences your comedy?
Oooh, we’re not quite sure! I think we just love making jokes and not take everything so seriously; but of course, we take our music very seriously [laughs].
We know there were great comedic classical musicians in the past, but ironically we didn’t really find out about most of them until we were well into content creation.
You’ve worked with some world-class musicians in the past, and the challenges you set them are great viewing. Who would you love to have join you for future challenges?
Yes, the experience has always been amazing! We would love to work with Gustavo Dudamel and Itzak Perlman.
As a duo who has been successful with a non-standard approach to a music career, what advice would you give to those trying to make a career in classical music in 2021 – a non-standard year?
We think learning is an important factor. Never stop learning, keep trying new things!
TwoSet has introduced many people to classical music. What would be the one piece of music you would recommend to someone if they had never heard classical music before?
Pachelbel’s Canon.
Kidding!
We’ve made some videos about this before, so definitely check it out for our recommendations. Definitely start with iconic symphonies from Beethoven! There’s so much character, we think most people will love it.
The TwoSet Violin 2021 Virtual World Tour takes place from December 28-29. It will be broadcast live from a classical concert hall and will accommodate three timezones.
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