Michael Hayvoronsky

Michael Hayvoronsky [Михайло Гайворонський], (b. September 15, 1892, in the village of Zalishchyky, Ternopil, Ukraine; d. September 11, 1949). Composer, musician, conductor, teacher, violinist, and critic. Hayvorosnsky studied music at the Lysenko Higher Institute of Music in Lviv, and was influenced by the composers of the Peremyshl school. His melodies are memorable and still popular today. Hayvoronsky also composed and arranged instrumental music for band and orchestra. Back in his homeland, he founded the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen Band (1914-1919) and later became the chief bandmaster of the Army of the Ukrainian National Republic. He is remembered for having written the patriotic song “Yikhav strilets na viynonky.” Soon after moving to New York in 1923, Hayvoronsky traveled to St. Michael Orthodox Church in Woonsocket, RI, and worked there with the local band Tovarystvo Zaporozhka Sich (Society of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen). His instrumental works include music for violin, string orchestra, band, and symphony orchestra. He died in 1949 and is buried at St. John’s Cemetery in Queens, NY.

1923: Came to America.

1920s and 1930s: St. Michael UOC (Woonsocket, RI).