One highlight of the Moscow Boys Choir’s stop in Lawrence – aside from what’s bound to be an ethereal Saturday evening performance – is the cultural exchange that will occur earlier in the day.

The 34-member, all-male choir will hobnob with the young vocalists in the Lawrence Children’s Choir, which itself has achieved international recognition.

They may not speak each other’s native tongues, but the children will no doubt be able to communicate with the universal language of music. Translators will take care of the finer points.

“Obviously, our children don’t speak Russian and most of the Moscow Boys Choir don’t speak English. There will be students from (Kansas) university who will be there to act as translators,” said Karen Christilles, associate director of the Lied Center, where the Russian choir will perform. “The university students will be able to use their language skills and be goodwill ambassadors, and the children will get to interact with each other.”

Founded in 1957, the Moscow Boys Choir is among Russia’s most prestigious all-boy choirs. The kids attend a special school in Moscow that provides both general education and musical training. Choir members are handpicked from more than 400 students at the school.

Ninel Kamburg has directed the choir since 1966.

Christilles said the Moscow choir was steeped in the European tradition of a boys choir.

“Our audience, here in particular, has heard the Harlem Boys Choir,” she said. “In terms of the training and the musical discipline, (the Moscow Boys Choir) is more in line with the Vienna Boys Choir in that it’s totally grounded in church literature and classical literature. This is one of the departures when they do their holiday program.

“There is music from all around the world, and they sing it in the native tongue of whatever country it comes from.”

The choir’s Lawrence appearance is the first in a series of Russian programming the Lied Center has planned in cooperation with Kansas University’s Center for Russian and East European Studies and the Slavic Languages and Literature Department.

The hubbub coincides with the 300th anniversary of the founding of the city of St. Petersburg, Russia.

On the academic side, a spring semester course called “St. Petersburg: Biography of a City” will be taught by a native of St. Petersburg who is a professor at St. Petersburg State University. From Feb. 20-April 20, the Spencer Research Library will display books, prints and maps by American and European travelers to St. Petersburg from the 18th to the mid-20th centuries in an exhibit titled “Saint Petersburg through Western Eyes.” A public lecture series also will have periodic installments throughout the spring.

Jodi Simek, outreach coordinator for the Center for Russian and East European Studies, said the tercentenary events were designed to educate the community about the history and culture of St. Petersburg.

“The goal of the St. Petersburg Semester is to expose Kansans to St. Petersburg and Russia and to help people understand the significant change that is happening in that world region,” she said.