[2] Born Donna Shea in Joliet, Illinois,[3] Rivera was privately trained in classical violin[3] and studied at the Mannes School of Music.

[6] Lindsay Planer from AllMusic praised the album, saying that Rivera "has consistently found specific and viable places for the violin in rock".

[7] Rivera has recorded multiple albums as a composer in numerous styles, instrumental, new-age, Celtic[4] and world music.

She has also toured in Japan with the US-based South American group Ritual with Uruguayans Federico Ramos and Eduardo Marquez del Signore.

Rivera was featured in Martin Scorsese's 2019 pseudo-documentary film Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story[4] and attended the premiere in New York in June 2019.

"[9] She continues to be an active recording artist, performer and composer, and is currently working on an album Celtic Magic to be released later in 2022.