Who are TwoSetViolin?
TwoSetViolin is a musical comedy duo consisting of the Australian violinists and YouTubers Brett Yang and Eddy Chen.
Brett Yang attempts to play Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso while hula hooping, with Eddy Chen accompanying on the piano | PHOTO: King of Hearts
What do they typically do?
They’re particularly known for their hilariously irreverent and charmingly self-deprecating YouTube videos that grapple with the challenges and stresses of being a violinist in a ludicrously competitive industry. As a result they’ve been widely acclaimed for making classical music more accessible to new audiences.
When were they born?
Brett Yang was born on 3 March 1992 in Taipei, Taiwan, and Eddy Chen was born on 23 March 1993 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
What are TwoSetViolin’s backgrounds?
Both born in Taiwan, they moved with their families first to New Zealand, and then to Brisbane in Australia as children. Both also studied violin to a high level: Brett Yang debuted at the Queensland Conservatorium playing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, while Eddy Chen was a finalist for the 2014 National Young Virtuoso Award in Queensland. They went to become members of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.
How did they meet?
They met as teenagers in an after-school maths group, later playing together in a youth orchestra and as students at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University in Brisbane.
How did they set up as TwoSetViolin?
They started out by posting covers of pop music on a YouTube channel, but didn’t get much of a response from the public. After noticing that the violinist Ray Chen made funny YouTube videos, they decided to move in a similar direction, with much greater success. Initially their videos focused on their lives at conservatory, as classical musicians and as students. Later they broadened their scope to address the subject of learning to play the violin, and the quirks of the classical music industry in general. It’s a formula that clearly works for them as they’ve now hit 4.34 million subscribers on YouTube and have been on various world tours, performing their comedy show live around the world.
What are their most famous videos?
In July 2018, they released a series of videos in which they performed classical music using rubber chickens. Other recurring themes include violin charades, musical prodigies and trying out various instruments. Amongst their favourite inventions is Ling Ling, a fictional prodigy who practises “40 hours a day”. According to Eddy Chen, they improvised the character from their comedy sketch video in which a teenage violin student’s tiger mim compared her child’s prowess to that of her friend’s child’s.
On a related note, they’ve also invented the Ling Ling Workout, in which the duo (or guests such as Hilary Hahn) play warhorses of the repertoire with handicaps such as playing at double speed, with scordatura, while dancing or hula hooping, with hand positions reversed, or while upside down.
When can I hear them live?
Their last tour finished this year, but to be notified about their next one, click here.