Rosa Mateu was born in Vilassar de Mar (Barcelona), and studied in the Conservatori de Musica del Liceu of Barcelona under Carmen Bustamante. She has developed an ongoing work interrelating the body and the voice with Teresa Celma, with whom she interrelates permanently. She has received master classes from several outstanding singers and teachers, recently with Lorraine Nubar and Dalton Baldwin.

Rosa Mateu is known to the Spanish and international audience for her high-quality expressive and timbrically rich voice. Her exquisite musicality allows easy adaptation to diverse styles and roles. Her performances in Europa, Russia, United States of America and South America have been highly praised by both public and musical critics.

She has centered her activities in two directions: as a lied singer and as opera performer. In the former, she has interpreted both Catalan and Spanish song music and given first performances of young composers such as Valls, Bertran,Turull, Humet, Gols, Guinovart, Mesa or Turull.

As far as opera is concerned, she started her career with Carme Bustamante (Opera in the University) and Mirna Lacambra (Amics d l´Òpera de Sabadell). Her flexibility and powerful voice has enabled her to interpret on stage very different opera roles such as "Condesa de Almaviva" in Le Nozze di Figaro, "Donna Elvira" in Don Giovanni, "Giovanna Seymur" in Anna Bolena ,"Violetta" de Traviata, "Santuzza" in Cavalleria Rusticana…In the Great Theater of Liceu, in Barcelona, she performed main roles in operas as Montsalvatge´s  VOCE IN OFF, as well as "Prilepa" in Dame Pique and "Flora" in Traviata. She was required by Xavier Montsalvatge himself to perform, for the first time, his opera BABEL 46.  She performed in Russia, where she interpreted the role of "Micaela" in Bizet´s Carmen and a recital of Spanish Music in the commemoration of the  foundation of the city of Saint Petersburg.

In relation to her symphonic repertoire, Rosa Mateu has participated in the "Invocaciones al Crucificado", of  Xavier  Montsalvatge, Mahler´s  2nd y 4th symphonies, Shostakovich´s 14th symphony, Mozart and Verdi´s Requiem´s, performed in music halls as Auditorio Nacional de Madrid, Palau de la Musica Catalana, Auditorio de Oviedo. She performed with Jaume Aragall and the Symphonic Orchestra at the Great Theater of Liceu a recital in 2003 of several opera arias an duets with great success. Recently (2007) she sang Richard Strauss´s Four Last Songs in the Philarmonic Theater of Medellín, Colombia.

She has traveled several times to New York,  where she gave the world´s premiere of Xavier Montsalvatge´s "Invocaciones al Crucificado" and several song by Gerhard. In 2002 she sang Xavier Montsalvatge´s songs in Elebash Recital Hall, and in 2005 she has given a recital of Catalan Music in New York´s Florence Gould Hall.

Rosa Mateu has several CD recordings for Columna Música: Una voce in off (Xavier Montsalvatge), Integral de canto (Xavier Montsalvatge), Llibre d´Amic (Ernest Borràs), Música de Cambra (Xavier Gols), the complete works by Manel Valls, including the Sephardi Songs, and songs of Carlota Garriga. In the forthcoming two years she will record three CD with Columna Música of composers such as Enrique Granados, Ricard Vinyes, Robert Gerard, Eduard Toldrà and Ferran Obradors.

In short, she will perform recitals in Belgium, Kosovo, Italy, Ecuador, Portugal, Colombia and New York. She will sing Verdi´s Requiem at the Palau de la Música in Barcelona and Teatre de Girona, the Opera Tiefland at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and Wagner´s Wesendonk Lieder in Oviedo.

She regularly peforms her recitals in Spain, Europe, North America and South America with the pianists MacMacclure, Anna Ferrer and Marco Evangelisti.