Charlise Tiee studied linguistics and dance at the University of California at Berkeley. As a child, she played viola in her school's orchestra and string quartet. She attends 50-70 opera performances a year, most of these in standing room with score in hand. Charlise prefers to hear Baroque operas, but seems to go to every production at San Francisco Opera at least twice regardless of repertoire. She also somehow has managed to hear 8 Ring cycles, despite her fear of Wagner. Charlise runs the popular blog "The Opera Tattler," which was started in 2001.