The duo was founded by spouses Germina Gordienko and Mitia Khramtsov during the pandemic in the spring of 2020, when they found themselves stuck in a forest cabin outside Saint Petersburg, Russia, with no concerts to play. They suddenly had enough time to create a new program together, and Germina even mastered a new instrument! Since 2023, the duo has been based in Krefeld, Germany.

The duo performs klezmer (Eastern European Jewish traditional) music on violin and tsimbl (hammered dulcimer), a classic combination in early klezmer. With the advent of wind instruments, the violin lost its leading position to the clarinet, and the tsimbl disappeared entirely from the klezmer instrumentation. Only with the beginning of the klezmer revitalization in the end of 1970s did it become possible to hear this unique sound again.

Mitia Khramtsov (violin, vocals) is the leader and founder of Dobranotch, an internationally acclaimed klezmer band originally from Saint Petersburg, Russia, and now based in Germany. For almost 30 years, the band has been one of the leading voices of the klezmer scene from the former Soviet Union, reaching audiences around the world.

Germina Gordienko (tsimbl) is an experienced drummer who previously played congas and drum set in many Afro, reggae, and Latin bands. She began playing klezmer music on poyk (klezmer bass drum) in 2018 with Shpil Klezmer Band, the klezmer ensemble of the Great Choral Synagogue of Saint Petersburg, and mastered the tsimbl during the pandemic in 2020–21. Since 2023, Germina has been a member of Dobranotch as a tsimbl player. She performs on an antique instrument that once belonged to a Volga German musician who was deported to the Urals by Stalin during World War II.