Michael Bilansky

Michael Bilansky [Михaйло Білянський], (b. Nov. 20 1871; d. June 22, 1959), church choir director and amateur composer of the early 20th Century. He was born in 1871 in Western Ukraine. He came to America in 1906 and started directing at Saints Peter and Paul in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. In 1914, he moved to Mahanoy City to become the choirmaster at St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church. After that, he worked at parishes in Bayonne, NJ (1924-25), and Simpson, PA (ca. 1930s). He passed in 1959 and was laid to rest in Ramsaysburg Cemetery, Knowlton, New Jersey.

1906: Came to America.

1910: SS. Peter and Paul (Wilkes-Barre, PA).

1914-1920s: St. Mary’s (Mahanoy City, PA).

1924-1925: Assumption of B.V.M. (Bayonne, NJ).

1934: SS. Peter and Paul (Simpson, PA).