She was born on November 2, 1918, to a family of schoolteachers and church workers. An early mentor was the Presbyterian organist and choral conductor, Viola Rich Smith.

At the U.P. Conservatory of Music, where she completed her Diploma in Piano (cum laude, 1939) and Bachelor’s Degree in Piano (1940), she was the student of  Rodolfo Cornejo, Francisco Santiago and Dolores Heras in piano and Antonio Molina, Rosita Concepcion Sandejas and Antonino Buenaventura in theory. She served as Director of the School of Music of Silliman University, (1940-41); Chairman of the Department of Sacred Music of Philippine Christian College (1947-49) and the Department of Music of the Philippine Women’s University (1942-45). At the same time she served as director of the Central Church Choir (1943) and the Ellinwood Church Choir (1947-49). Immediately after the Second World War, she became the first foreign scholar of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, an award created for her and later enjoyed by many students from all over the world. She finished a Master’s degree in Music (1947) at the Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey and trained under Carl Friedberg and Ernesto Berumen in piano, Mary Krimmel in pipe organ, William Pffeifer and Virginia Switten in voice and her mentor, the English conductor, John Finley Williamson, in choral conducting. 

Returning to the Philippines, she was at the forefront of the modernist movement in Philippine music. She was the soloist for the Philippine premieres of the Piano Concertos by Aram Katchaturian and Arthur Bliss in 1948 and 1955, respectively, both conducted by Antonino Buenaventura and the Manila Municipal Symphony.  She was responsible for the professionalization of the ministry of music in the Protestant Church, organizing choirs and leading workshops, setting standards and instituting salaries and honoraria for professional musicians working in the church. As conductor,  she encouraged many Philippine composers including Lucio San Pedro, Ramon Santos and Antonio Regalario to write for the medium of the children’s’ choir.

Upon her return to Manila in 1951, she joined the faculty of the U.P. Conservatory of Music. She and her colleagues Eliseo Pajaro, Jose Maceda and Ruby Mangahas,  succeeded in upgrading the Conservatory into a College with a full range of university level curricular offerings. She and other colleagues – notably, Aurelio Estanislao and  Andrea Veneracion organized the Diliman Choral Guild, with her as director. The  group, which embodied the spirit of ecumenism in a community that had been highly polarized along religious lines, featured a joint choir of students and faculty  from the Protestant Church of the Risen Lord and the Roman Catholic Chapel of the Holy Sacrifice. Together with their church leaders, Fr. Patricio Lim and Rev. James Palm, the choir  performed large works - the Passion according to Saint Matthew, the Passion according to Saint John and the Magnificat by Johann Sebastian Bach. Featured performers included the rabbi of the Jewish Synagogue in Manila, Estanislao, Veneracion, as well as then students, Elmo Makil, Noel Velasco, Mauricia Borromeo, and in the children’s choir Ryan Cayabyab and Joel Navarro.

She directed the Philippine Male Chorale (1958-61), the U.P. Male Glee Club (1961-63),  the Chorus Classes of the U.P. College of Music (1951-83) , the Church of the Risen Lord Choir (1952-60), the  U.P. Mixed Choir (later U.P. Concert Chorus) with her student and friend Reynaldo Paguio (1967-69), and finally, the U.P. Cherubim and Seraphim (1971-98), the  official children’s choir of the University of the Philippines. 

In the area of music education, she was dedicated to the upgrading of the skills and capacities of musicians all over the Philippines. She and a group of friends active in the choral movement, notably Veneracion, Paguio and David Yap came together to organize NAMCYA (National Music Competitions for Young Artists) in 1972.  She was the Director of the Annual Summer Workshop of the organization from 1974-1993, travelling to all the parts of the Philippines, adjudicating choral competitions, organizing and directing both regional and national workshops until 1996. She passed away on September 5, 1998. Married to Manuel Traico Rivera, an orthopedic surgeon, they are survived by three children, Elena Rivera Mirano, Manuel Michael Rivera, and Robin Daniel Rivera.