A Celebration of America’s 236th Birthday

Celebrate America’s birthday with A Capitol Fourth, the country’s favorite Independence Day tradition. Tom Bergeron takes the helm as the new host of the star-spangled affair, which features an inspiring Olympic tribute to Team USA with Olympic medalist Apolo Anton Ohno and John Williams conducting his “Olympic Fanfare,” and performances by Phillip Phillips, Matthew Broderick and Kelli O’Hara, Megan Hilty, Javier Colon, Josh Turner, Kool & the Gang, and the National Symphony Orchestra under conductor Jack Everly, topped off by the greatest display of fireworks anywhere in the nation.

In celebration of America’s 236th birthday, the show will be capped off with a rousing rendition of Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” complete with live cannon fire provided by The United States Army Presidential Salute Battery, an audience favorite and now an A Capitol Fourth tradition. Also participating in the event will be The Choral Arts Society of Washington, along with The U.S. Army Herald Trumpets, The U.S. Army Ceremonial Band, the Quantico Marine Corps Band, members of the Armed Forces carrying the state and territorial flags and the Joint Armed Forces Color Guard provided by the Military District of Washington, D.C.

Join the celebration Wednesday, July 4 starting at 8:00 p.m. on WCVE PBS/WHTJ PBS

A Capitol Fourth airs live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol before a concert audience of hundreds of thousands, millions more at home, on National Public Radio and to our troops around the world on the American Forces Network.