Meet the Musicians: Jenna Breen

By Leilani Polk

There’s nothing like the thrill of playing for live audiences … except, maybe, if you’re a musician who moonlights as a seaplane pilot.  

Jenna Breen’s adventures in the air started during the pandemic, when the Seattle Symphony horn player had loads of extra time on her hands. She’d always wondered how planes flew and what caused turbulence. But instead of Googling it, she went straight to the pros at Rainier Flight Service, a flight school in Renton where her curiosity quite literally took off.  

“I was so bored and needed some stimulation. I thought I’d just give it a go, have a couple lessons and get that idea out of my system. I didn’t think I would be working as a pilot, in my wildest dreams, but I got addicted to it.” All told, it took a few different professional certificates and 250 hours of flight time to get to where she is now: working part-time for Seattle Seaplanes, flying short 20-minute scenic tours around the city that take off and land on Lake Union. She picks up gigs during the Symphony’s season, but flies most regularly in the summer as the seaplane season ticks up and the Symphony season winds down. “I can’t complain. It keeps me busy; I don’t often have more than one day off every two weeks, but if working on my day off is getting paid to fly, it doesn’t really feel like I’m working.” 

Breen came to Seattle from Melbourne, Australia; she’d started playing horn at age 10 in Queensland, and her musical pursuits took her across the continent, to Melbourne, to Perth, and back again until she became a full-time member of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 2014. But she says she started getting “itchy feet” after a few seasons. The chance to audition for the Seattle Symphony arose in 2016, around the same time she had already planned a visit to San Francisco. So she adjusted her flight to land in Seattle, auditioned, and had won the position by the time she continued on her originally scheduled trip.  

Settling in Seattle proved easier than expected. “When I first moved here, after living in Melbourne for seven years, I felt like they were pretty similar cities, especially the nightlife, the culture, the vibe. It’s on the water, the population is similar … the biggest difference is that Melbourne is completely flat.” It’s also more verdant here. “I remember flying in for my audition, and just seeing how green everything was. That was the one thing that stood out. Australia has nice nature, but it was just so green here.” 

Despite not knowing anything about Seattle before auditioning for the Symphony, she knew within a few months that she wouldn’t be returning to Melbourne. “I love the orchestra and I love the city.”