The new Embassy of Latvia in Washington, D.C., is now open for business in an Embassy Row home built in 1902 that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Embassy staff began moving into the property at 2306 Massachusetts Ave. on Dec. 1, an embassy spokesperson said. The Latvian government spent four years obtaining local approvals and completing renovation work on the property.

The building, known as the Studio House, was built for artist and art advocate Alice Pike Barney. She used the home for weekend salons that often featured celebrities of the day, as well as for performances of music and theater, according to a 1994 article by Amy Ballard in Smithsonian Preservation Quarterly. At one time the property was owned by the Smithsonian Institution.

The property was added to the National Register in 1995.

The embassy’s new address is 2306 Massachusetts Ave. N.W., Washington DC 20008. The telephone number is +1 (202) 328-2840 and the fax number is +1 (202) 328-2860. The embassy’s e-mail address remains embassy@latvia-usa.org.

To honor the work of the late Vilnis Zaļkalns, who led the Latvian service of Radio Sweden from 1989 until his death in 2002, his colleagues have prepared a double compact disc collection of some of his most memorable broadcasts.

Radio Vilnis includes reports prepared during the independence activities in the Baltic states in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as well as commentary about some of the difficulties facing the nations after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Also heard are Zaļkalns’ commentaries on myths about Sweden.

The 20 tracks on the album are introduced by Austra Krēsliņa, Dagnija Lapsa and Dace Vinklere.

Information about obtaining the album is available by contacting Dace Vinklere in Sweden by telephone at +46 70 653 2526 or by e-mail dace.vinklere@sr.se, or Ģirts Zēgners in Latvia by telephone at +371 68 50 511 or by e-mail at girts.zegners@apollo.lv.

A recording of Dmitri Shostakovich’s “Symphony No. 13,” with Latvia-born conductor Mariss Jansons leading the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, has been nominated for two Grammy awards.

An opera recording that includes Latvian mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča also has been nominated in the 48th annual Grammy Awards competition, The Recording Academy announced Dec. 8.

The Shostakovich recording, released on the EMI Classics label in August, is one of five recordings nominated in the Best Classical Albums category. It also is nominated in the Best Orchestral Performance category.

The composer’s “Symphony No. 13” was written in 1961 as a tribute to the tens of thousands of Jews murdered from 1941-1943 at Babi Yar in Ukraine.

Jansons has been chief conductor of the Munich, Germany-based orchestra since the 2003-2004 concert season. This summer, his contract was extended through August 2009. Born in Latvia in 1943, Jansons is the son of conductor Arvīds Jansons.

Garanča appears on Vivaldi: Bajazet, a recording by the Europa Galante ensemble of Antonio Vivaldi’s little-known “Bajazet,” an opera penned in 1735. Fabio Biondi conducts what Virgin Classics calls the recording premiere of the work.

The recording was released in May on the Virgin Classics and EMI Classics label.

Garanča, who was born in Latvia, now performs with the Wiener Staatsoper in Vienna, Austria.

The Grammy Awards presentation is scheduled Feb. 8 in Staples Center in Los Angeles.