Mackenzie Aliano is a bass player in the Undergraduate Program in Instrumental Performance at NYU Steinhardt and a student of Joseph Bongiorno. Mackenzie began playing the double bass in 2000, under the instruction of Peter Tarsoli, and that year, she became the principal bassist in The Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York's String Ensemble.  In 2005, she successfully auditioned for The Juilliard School's Pre-College Program, where she was the last student ever to be accepted into Homer Mensch's studio.  At Juilliard, Mackenzie studied under Homer Mensch, Judith Sugarman, and Albert Laszlo, in addition to taking master classes with Eugene Levinson.  During her two years at the prestigious conservatory, Mackenzie played in The Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra and The Juilliard Pre-College Symphony, in which she was principal bassist, and in 2007, she played in the Homer Mensch Memorial Concert, "A Tribute to Homer Mensch", at Paul Hall, alongside twelve other former Mensch students.

From 2002 to 2007, Mackenzie attended The Wheatley School in New York, where she was president of National Music Honor Society (Tri-M) and a member of National Honor Society and the National French, Italian, and Japanese Honor Societies.  During this time, she played in all four orchestras in The Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York and participated in Long Island String Festival (assistant principal bassist) and C.W. Post Chamber Music Festival (principal bassist), as well as in The All-County Orchestra and The All-County Band (principal bassist). Through the years, Mackenzie has performed at such major concert venues as Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Carnegie Hall. One of five bass players in her family, she is joined by her two sisters in the Undergraduate Double Bass Performance Program at Steinhardt.