He was born in Hamburg, and studied there with Horst Stein and Christoph von Dohnányi.
After appointments at the Theater Bremen and Theater Hagen and guest appearances in Italy he was appointed director of the "Laboratorio Lirico" festival of contemporary music in Piedmont, where he conducted a series of world and national premières of modern music.
Among other contemporary composers with whom he is associated are György Ligeti, Krzysztof Penderecki, Luigi Nono, Hans Werner Henze and Wolfgang Rihm.
[1] Humburg has conducted complete recordings of La bohème, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Il trovatore and Falstaff.
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