[Source: BBC]

Brett Yang and Eddy Chen met at after-school maths tutoring when they were growing up in Australia – now they are selling out international concert venues on their second world tour.

TwoSet Violin, as they are called, is one of the biggest classical music acts online.

With over 7.5 million followers across social media platforms and more than 1.3 billion views on their YouTube channel, the Brisbane duo have shown how the classical music community can bring in new audiences with a little bit of practice and imagination.

The pair, now in their early 30s, are known for their entertaining and informative videos which they started posting on YouTube in 2013.

Their content ranges from mocking inaccurate depictions of violinists in films including 2016’s High Strung, to encouraging the biggest classical acts, such as violinist Hilary Hahn, to take part in challenges like playing Mozart while hula hooping.

They even dared to parody South Korean girl group Blackpink for using a small part of a motif from Paganini’s La Campanella étude in their song Shut Down. Eddy Chen impersonated the Italian violinist and composer in a video and imagined how he might have critiqued the track.

TwoSet then released a parody track Sell Out which included the lyrics: “I sold my soul to the devil. You sold yours to your label”. Paganini (1782-1840) was referred to as the “devil’s violinist” because superstitious audiences thought his virtuosic skills were a gift from the devil.

The critiques led to a fierce defence on social media by the K-Pop act’s loyal fans, many of whom thought Paganini was still alive. TwoSet later responded with another video, saying it was great to raise awareness of Paganini’s work to a wider audience.

When they created their YouTube channel 10 years ago, TwoSet’s content was often shared by fellow classical musicians who understood the niche humour of their videos.

They’ve really broken through in the past few years and now the duo say other classical musicians tell them a wider range of people are coming to their concerts for the first time thanks to TwoSet’s content.

“We want to stay true to [classical music’s] essence, but at the same time, find ways to connect and meet people where they are,” Chen told the BBC World Service Global News Podcast before the London leg of their tour in late June.