Jordin Sparks Joins All Star Entertainers Live Tonight at PBS's "A Capitol Fourth"

The concert airs live tonight at 8pm Eastern and ends at 9:30 p.m. Tonight's PBS special competes with NBC's "America's Got Talent", ABC's "The Bachelorette" and CBS's Sunday line up "How I Met Your Mother," "Mike and Molly," and "Two and a Half Men." ABC airs the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks spectacular at 9 pm. (eastern).

Actor Jimmy Smits hosts the array of musical talent: Josh Groban, Steep Canyon Rogers, Little Richard, Glee's Matthew Morrison, Jordin Sparks (American Idol winner), Kelli O'Hara (Broadway sensation), the Broadway cast of the Million Dollar Quartet and the National Symphony Orchestra all are scheduled to perform. After the show, hundreds of thousands on the nation's monument grounds will stay for the fireworks, a DC 4th of July tradition.

"A Capitol Fourth" is traditionally been one PBS's highest rated programs over the past decade. Last year, "A Capitol fourth" became the top-rated program in primetime on PBS for the 2009-2010 season.

22 television cameras will be stationed around Washington D.C. to capture the concert and the fireworks. The cameras are positioned at the US Capitol, the White House, the Washington Monument and across the Potomac River.

PBS viewers can watch the event in HD or listen live in stereo on NPR stations across the world. Viewers and concert goers will hear a favorite rendition of Tchaikovsky's "1812 overture" with live cannon fire from the United States Army Presidential Salute Battery.

"It's a tremendously uplifting feeling as hundreds of thousands of Americans join together on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol, singing the National Anthem as the National Symphony Orchestra plays,'" said executive producer Jerry Colbert. "As we watch the nation's capital light up with fireworks, it helps us forget our differences and remember that we are all Americans. I can't think of a better place to celebrate our freedom and the nation's birthday."

PBS has broadcast "A Capitol Fourth" for 30 years. Over the years it sites a "parade of superstars -- including Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Reba McEntire, Natasha Bedingfield, Barry Manilow, Dolly Parton, Gloria Estefan, Huey Lewis and the News, Little Richard, Tony Bennett, Faith Hill, Ray Charles, the Bee Gees, Kenny G, Aaron Neville and Kenny Rogers and the Muppets from Sesame Street.