Entertainment

String-a-ding-ding

Two Croatian classical musical prodigies — for a decade thought to be rivals, but really best friends — finally play together for the first time. They film themselves playing a version of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” that they arranged in mere hours. Then they post the clip on YouTube. Within weeks, they are international sensations, preparing to tour arenas worldwide as they take personal calls from Elton John.

The biggest question about the duo 2 Cellos, which releases a self-titled debut album on Tuesday and plays Le Poisson Rouge on July 28, is not “How did they become so big, so fast,” but rather, “Who will snap up the film rights?”

Luka Sulic, 23, and Stjepan Hauser, 25, became great friends as teen cello prodigies. Their musical training kept them apart until both wound up in London last year, where Sulic was studying at the Royal Academy of Music.

“We started hanging out all the time,” says Hauser. “We would walk all night and have ideas to make something new, crazy and exciting — something that would attract a wider audience. We wanted to revolutionize the cello.”

The pair spent hours brainstorming a two-cello arrangement of “Smooth Criminal” on Skype, then paid a local filmmaker 1,000 euros to create a video, which they filmed in a matter of hours in Hauser’s hometown of Pula. Two days after they uploaded the film, record labels and news outlets were calling. Sony Masterworks signed them, Ellen DeGeneres requested a performance and Sir Elton added them to his tour.

While the pair was stunned by the sudden notoriety — they had hoped to slowly build a following over several years — they were also panicking because, despite the adulation, they still only had one song.

They came up with 20 arrangements over the next month, 12 of which wound up on the CD, including versions of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” U2’s “With or Without You,” and Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle,” which became their next video.

Playing “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” Hauser, despite almost two decades of experience, had a surprising career first.

“We played with so much intensity that my bow broke,” says Hauser. “That had never happened. I needed to run and get another bow.”

“Ellen couldn’t believe it. She was laughing,” says Sulic. “Time is precious in those studios, so luckily we got another take.”

But their most exciting experience so far has been with John, a long-time patron of the Royal Academy who established the scholarship fund that pays for Sulic’s studies. So when the video exploded on the Web — it has been watched over 6 million times — the school’s director let the beneficent pop star know.

Elton called Sulic personally and invited the pair to play his European tour. They’ll continue on his US tour and open shows here as well, including a Sept. 6 date at the upstate Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.

Sulic and Hauser then hope to tour on their own to help turn a new generation onto an instrument whose best-known ambassador is Yo-Yo Ma.

“We want to build [our group] and fill up big stadiums,” Hauser says.

“And,” adds Sulic, “attract many young people to the cello.”