Hugo Alexander Cruz Machado is a Cuban-born, award winning, international drummer and
composer who has performed in South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Mexico, Chile, Venezuela, and
the United States.

Hugo is the leader of the group Caminos, who have made appearances at Pittonkatonk music
festival, the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival 2019, Fábrica de Artes in Havana, Cuba, First
Night Pittsburgh 2020, City of Asylum, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust events, The Frick Museum, Con
Alma, Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh,Carnegie Music Hall Oakland, Pittsburgh
PlayHouse, and events with Chamber Music Pittsburgh, Equity Impact, University of Pittsburgh
Afro Latinidad Festival, Pittsburgh World Affairs Council, Indiana PA Blues and Jazz festival,
Three Rivers Casino, among others.

Caminos fuse rhythms and melodies of Afro-Cuban, Cuban, and American music, in an original
contemporary expression that honors traditional Cuban form. Hugo Cruz and Caminos released
an album this February called Punto de Partida, featuring many notable musicians from Cuba
and the U.S., recording eight of Hugo’s original compositions.

While a resident of Cuba, Hugo toured regularly with Síntesis, a leading Afro Cuban rock-fusion
group. Hugo has performed in Havana’s largest jazz festival, Jazz Plaza, with acclaimed artists
Dave Weckl and Victor Goines. He is a graduate of the Instituto Superior de Artes, the leading
arts university of Cuba, and in 2014, won the award as the “best drummer” at the international
Festival del Tambor Guillermo Barreto in Memoriam in Havana, Cuba.