MANILA, Philippines ? Classical musicians from South Korea, including its handicapped but gifted artists, will perform in a benefit concert for street children, according to an official of the group organizing the event.

The United Nations Children?s Fund (UNICEF) and the Beautiful Mind Charity (BMC) have teamed up to present the ?Beautiful Children Concert? on April 3 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Main Theater, said Ill Kyoung Park, president of the United Korean Community Association of the Philippines, at the UNICEF press briefing.

Classical musicians from South Korea, including the visually impaired clarinetist San Jae Lee and pianist Hee Ah Lee, who has first grade congenital limb deformity, will be performing, along with local soprano Alexis Edralin, who has acute myelogenous leukemia, said Park.

BMC, founded in 2006, has staged similar fund-raising concerts in the United States, Japan, Vietnam, and most recently in Hong Kong.

"For many of us here, maybe this is the first time we will get to see classical music from Korea," said Park.

The concert will also feature acclaimed pianist Hye Young Park and crossover artist Kyul, a "pop-era" (merging pop and opera) artist. Hosting the concert will be Korean beauty queen Honey Lee, who placed 3rd runner up in the 2007 Miss Universe pageant, Park said.

Park said he was counting on the local Korean community to patronize the concert.

He said there were now more than 120,000 Koreans in the Philippines, a lot more than neighboring countries in Southeast Asia.

Concert tickets are priced at P4, 000, P2, 000 and P1, 000. Ticket purchases and other inquiries can be coursed through UNICEF?s local office at 758-1000, he said.

All proceeds from the concert will be forwarded to UNICEF, which subsists solely on corporate sponsorships and individual donations.

Angela Travis, UNICEF?s chief communications officer, said programs addressing street children were a growing component of the organization?s overall thrust.

In the Philippines, these programs are categorized into community-based and ?street-based,? which includes alternative learning sessions on topics such as HIV as well as counseling, Travis said.

Locally, UNICEF estimates there are 250,000 street children, about 50,000 of these classified as ?highly visible? or those spending at least four hours in crowded public areas, said Travis.