From 1999-2007 the artist studied with Prof. Katharina Dau at the Mannheim Conservatoire, where she got her diplomas as a singing teacher, an opera singer and as a concert singer.

The jung musician played in Gluck`s “Armide” the role of the Shepard in 2003. In September 2004, she made her opera debut as the Pamina in Mozart's “Magic Flute”. Then she played the Bastienne in "Bastien and Bastienne" at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, the Valencienne in "Die lustige Witwe" at the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern in 2005/06, the Violetta in "La Traviata" in 2006 and the Mimi in “La Boheme” in 2009 at Ibiza and "Blanche" in "Die Dialoge der Karmeliterinnen” in 2011. Apart from that she was a member of the ensemble at the International Opera Studio at the Staatstheater Nuernberg in 2007/08, a part of the ensemble of the Stadttheater Bremerhaven during the season 2009/2010 and sang as a guest at the Landestheater Detmold in 2012  an at the Landestheater Schleswig-Holstein in 2016 as Gräfin Almaviva in Mozart's “Die Hochzeit des Figaro”, at the Landestheater Schleswig-Holstein as Auguste in Blacher's “Preußisches Märchen” during the season 2011/2012 and she sang in 2013/14 the part of Rosalinde in Strauss' "Die Fledermaus" in Luxemburg. 2016 she made her debut as Belinda in Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas" during the Walldorfer Musiktage. Apart from that she was a member of the TourneeOper Mannheim since 2011 till 2021. Since January 2022 she is a constant member of the Choir of the Theater Heidelberg.

She sang various concert performances abroad and in Germany - for example the Fauré- and Brahms-Requiem, at the Gustav Mahlers "4th Symphony", Bachs "St. John Passion" and "The Christmas Oratory", Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s "Elias" in Meran and Brixon, Beethovens "Missa Solemnis" in Poland as well as Paul McCartneys "Ecce cor meum" and Rutters "Magnificat" lately.

Nelly Palmer also won prizes at "Jugend musiziert", the "Suder-Liedwettbewerb" 2002 in Nuernberg, the Conservatoire-Competition 2003 in the category "Lied with focus on Schubert", the “Richard-Strauss-Competition” 2004, the “Bundeswettbewerb Gesang” 2006 and the "Großer Internationaler Meistersingerwettbewerb Neustadt 2011". She obtained a bursary from the International Association of Wagner Societies 2005.

Nelly Palmer also attended master classes of Helmut Deutsch, Ulrich Eisenlohr, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Reri Grist, Klesie Kelly, Rudolf Piernay, Anna Reynolds, Maria Venuti, Ruth Ziesack, Katharina Dau, Wolfram Koloseus, Peer Boysen and Claudia Eder.