Piano duo Pascal and Ami Roge live up to the Shakespeare quote from Twelfth Night: If music be the food of love, play on.

The New York-based couple, who are famed for their four-hand piano pieces, are partners on and off stage.

The 57-year-old Frenchman and his Japanese-Indonesian wife were married last year in a traditional Japanese wedding ceremony.

They met six years ago at a music festival in Spain.

They will be stopping by Singapore this week to perform at the CIMB 16th Singapore International Piano Festival.

Speaking to Life! in a telephone interview from Germany where they were on tour, Roge said: 'Making music with someone you love is better than just with another musician. It's a very special duet. We put all our intimacy into our music.'

He added that they did not plan to play together at first, although he knew that she 'was the right one for my life' when he first met her.

'I've always been interested in playing duets, but it's really tricky but intimate with four hands. Using two pianos is easier.

'With four hands on one instrument, you need to become one person with one interpretation,' he said.

Other big names making an appearance at the festival include Russian pianists Vladimir Feltsman, Nikolai Demidenko and Yevgeny Sudbin.

Singaporean pianists Yao Xiao Yun and Nicolas Loh will be making their debut at the Young Virtuoso Recital.

Roge said the repertoire he has chosen, which includes works by Chopin and Debussy, reflects the important things in his life.

The first half, which features mostly music from French composers such as Chopin, shows his relationship with music.

The second half, which features two duets with his wife playing pieces from Franz Schubert and Maurice Ravel, is about his relationship with her.

'It is so exciting to be playing in Singapore, which is such an international place,' said Roge, who has one child from a previous marriage.

He added: 'I've always believed that music is a way to unify people because there is no barrier of language. We both bring different things from our cultures into our music.

'Music is an international language and is the final riddle to bringing people together and making peace with everyone.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.