The proposed sale of the former Honolulu Symphony’s Steinway concert grand piano to the city has sparked dismay among piano lovers, who are worried what city control over it would mean.

The expected sale of the "Masaki Steinway" is especially disturbing to the family and students of the late Ellen Masaki, the longtime doyenne of Hawaii piano teachers who died in 2009. The piano was a donation to the symphony by Symphony Foundation President Mark Wong and his company, Commercial Data Systems. Wong dedicated the instrument to his former teacher in honor of her 75th birthday in 2003.

Masaki’s daughter, Nancy Masaki, who now runs Masaki’s music school, started a petition opposing a sale and asking that the piano be sold to the school, which would then make it available for symphony use and other occasions. Masaki said she collected 383 signatures in two days, with another 400 signatures on a Facebook petition.

"It’s not that I want the piano for myself. That piano belongs to the symphony," Nancy Masaki said. "It should not be in the hands of the city."

City officials say they want to buy the piano to ensure that it stays at Blaisdell Concert Hall.

"Our first concern was to make sure that it stays at the Blaisdell Concert Hall and that it remains in Hono-lulu," said a statement from John Fuhrmann, events and services manager for the city Department of Enterprise Services. "The city wants to ensure the piano will be available to the new Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, the Honolulu Youth Symphony, the Hawaii Opera Theatre and other talented musicians who will appreciate the special qualities of this piano."

Masaki is worried the city will allow the piano to be used inappropriately, such as for rowdy rock concerts that would not need a piano of such quality and possibly damage it. A concert grand piano, which sells for upward of $100,000, is considered a necessity for classical music, where richness and tone are prized above volume.

"I don’t think that piano should be used for any of the wild concerts, where they can easily use the other pianos that they have there, and no one would be able to tell the difference," Masaki said.

"In a classical concert of the highest quality, where you have artists coming in who are Steinway artists (pianists who perform specifically on Steinways), you have to have a piano in its most prime condition."

Master piano technician Yoshi Nishimura, who worked on the symphony pianos for decades, echoed her sentiments.

"If everyone gets to use that piano, we can’t keep up the piano quality," Nishimura said.

City spokesman Jim Fulton said the piano would not be used in Blaisdell Arena, where most pop concerts are staged. He said the main hazard to pianos involve moving them. He said the city is willing to meet with Masaki over her concerns.

Masaki is also worried about the maintenance of the piano, saying it already has scratches and dents on the case and legs.

The Masaki Steinway was selected by a team of pianists and music lovers, including Masaki, concert pianist Misha Dichter, piano prodigy Sean Kennard and Wong. (Wong could not be reached for comment.) Concert pianist Andre Watts played it in its debut, later telling the Honolulu Star-Bulletin: "It has a very beautiful sound, which is not always true with concert grands. It’s automatically poetic; you put your fingers in the right place, and it speaks."

Oz Stender, of the Symphony Exploratory Committee, said the group had originally made a verbal agreement to sell the piano, along with a Baldwin concert grand that it acquired in the auction, to ensure that they would have a permanent home.

"Our concern was that if we don’t sell it, they’re going to tell us to move it off the premises," he said. At the time, no one was aware the sale would cause such concern to the Masaki family, he said.

He said the group has placed conditions on the sale requiring the piano to be maintained and giving the symphony priority in case of a scheduling conflict. But the conditions don’t address who can use the piano, he said.

Fulton could not confirm a price because the sale is still pending, but Nancy Masaki said she was told the price for the Steinway and the Baldwin was $65,000. She said she hopes that the city will "be intelligent" in deciding how the Masaki Steinway is used.