“Favorite son” pianist Jon Nakamatsu joined conductor Tatsuya Shimono for a seamless performance of the ever-popular Rachmaninov Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18, as part of the Symphony Silicon Valley series May 4-5 at the California Theatre, San Jose. The evening, however, began with an unusual appearance of a second conductor, Henry Mollicone, leading a performance of his own Kathy’s White Knight – A Tone Poem for Orchestra, a ten-minute excerpt from his The Adventures of Alice ballet. It seems Symphony Silicon Valley President Andrew Bales wished to recognize the Saratoga, CA composer, who has been too long neglected in the repertory, so he asked Mollicone to direct the piece, which pays homage at once to Lewis Carroll and to Mollicone’s wife, Kathy, since the lyrical motif in the score derives from an Alleluia for their wedding day. Brash and energetic, the music flared out in galloping measures as the White Knight fell from his steed – some may recall that Gary Cooper enacted the mock heroics in 1933 — big in the brass and percussion sections. The glamour of the sonority easily reminded us of the Hollywood scores of John Williams with perhaps less bluster. No less effective, the flute solo (Sarah Benton) and tender string melody that ensued might pay homage to another Hollywood composer, John Barry.