IN PICTURES: 58th Edinburgh Tattoo set to be a real spectacular

While 2007's showpiece, the first for new Tattoo Chief Executive & Producer, Major General Euan Loudon, is set to pay tribute to the Diamond Wedding Anniversary of HM The Queen and HRH Prince Philip as well as celebrating 150 years of military music, the mood will be noticeably multinational as participants from as far afield as Africa, America and Asia are expected to enrich proceedings.

Show-stopping international attractions lined-up for this summer include the Band of The Moscow Military Conservatoire – preparing for their debut at the Tattoo in August – and, making what will also be their first visit to the Scottish capital, Taipei's First Girls Senior High School Honour Guard & Drum Corps with a thrilling exhibition of music, movement and precision drill.

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Yet this year's Tattoo opens in customary fashion with a specially-commissioned fanfare – entitled 'Fanfaric Salute' – which will be performed at the start of each show during the three-week spectacular. The piece, composed and directed by Major Bob Meldrum – Director of Music, Royal Artillery and 2007 Tattoo Director of Music – will receive its premiere before the Massed Pipes & Drums fill the Esplanade with the stirring sound of the pipes. This large pipe band will advance across the Castle drawbridge each evening playing time honoured favourites such as 'The Skye Boat Song' and 'Mhairie's Wedding'.

They comprise the Pipes & Drums of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, The Royal Corps of Signals, who make their Tattoo debut, The Black Watch, The Royal Gurkha Rifles, and representatives from Scotland's Universities Officers Training Corps. While from overseas, the Auckland Police together with the Royal Caledonian Society of South Australia make their first appearances at this summer's show and, after a 4-year absence, 2007 sees the return of the Royal Army of Oman.

Major General Euan Loudon said:

"While we are especially pleased to include these two key anniversaries in this year's show –and both will be properly recognised – we are not overlooking the fact that this year also sees the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Falklands War and we shall be duly acknowledging that in the programme.

"I feel sure that this year's programme will properly maintain the strong traditions and high standards cherished by both performers and spectators throughout the 57 years the Tattoo has been staged. On this special anniversary we look forward to celebrating the Diamond Wedding of The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh," he added.

An impressive visual, musical and marching feast will then be provided by Taiwan's renowned marching corps, the Taipei First Girls Senior High School Honour Guard & Drum Corps, which boasts a unique 150-strong all-girl display team. And also on their first visit to the Scottish Capital is America's iconic fife and drum ensemble, the Middlesex County Volunteers, from Boston, Massachusetts. This 50-piece repertory ensemble will perform martial, dance and folk music drawn from 17th, 18th and early 19th century sources in America and Europe.

This year the Tattoo's Highland Spring Dancers will join forces with a Commonwealth Highland Dance troupe from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. Tattoo Dance Director and former World Champion Highland Dancer, Billy Forsyth MBE has devised an exciting display which acknowledges the key anniversaries marked at the 2007 Tattoo.

A breathtaking demonstration of high speed skill and courage will then be added by the Imps Motorcycle Display Team. They will perform their daring act, in what is regarded by many as a difficult arena, before concluding with their show piece, a stunning, fast moving, all action, precision ride.

Tattoo audiences will then witness the much anticipated introduction to the Castle Esplanade of Russia's prestigious Band of the Moscow Military Conservatoire. Famous for its accomplished performing style, this leading band is widely regarded as Russia's international musical ambassadors.

Also among this year's attractions will be the Mounted Band of the Blues & Royals as one of the Household Cavalry's finest bands, astride 30 Irish Draught horses and led by a specially bred Shire Cross drum horse, take to the showground with a meticulous riding and musical display for which they are famed. Their repertoire will include tunes such as 'Royal Horse Guards Slow March' and the 'Mason's Apron'.

Award-winning West Indian calypso dance music will then float across the Esplanade as the sunny sound of the Caribbean is provided by the Trinidad & Tobago Defence Force Steel Orchestra. It is the only military steel band of its kind and took part, to great acclaim, in the 1997 Tattoo, its Golden Anniversary production in 2000 and, more recently, at the 56th Tattoo in 2005.

Then, the Light Cavalry Band along with the Royal Artillery Band and the Band of The Royal Regiment of Scotland will assemble for a colourful and absorbing musical item entitled Music at War which traces 150 years of military music using state-of-the-art projection equipment portraying epic episodes from this epoch.

The Mounted Band of the Blues and Royals is then set to re-join the 2007 proceedings to help celebrate the Diamond Wedding Anniversary of The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh and will gather alongside the Massed Military Bands. They are accompanied by Edinburgh's 70-strong Kevock Choir, the Tattoo's resident choristers, with songs such as 'Triumphal March' from Aida:

The Massed Pipes and Drums then assemble in company with the Massed Military Bands as 500 musicians combine to create the unique Tattoo sound, playing audience favourites such as the Grammy award-winning Bryan Adams song 'Everything I Do I Do It For You', which achieved massive chart success internationally in 1991.

A sensational Grand Finale, featuring the entire 1,000 cast and a Guard of Honour provided by 40 Regiment Royal Artillery, then brings the show to an emotional and poignant close as the Lone Piper, high on the Castle ramparts, plays the haunting lament 'Crags of Tumbledown' to mark the 25th anniversary of the Falklands War. During this year's finale sequence representatives from across every area of Scouting in Scotland will parade each evening to honour their centenary.

The Edinburgh Military Tattoo is grateful, once more, to Royal Bank of Scotland for its generous support. Sir Tom McKillop, Chairman of RBS, said:

"The Tattoo is renowned as one of the most spectacular events in Europe's calendar. The acts lined up for 2007 promise to be as outstanding as in previous years, and we are once again delighted to be supporting it."

Some resale tickets for the 2007 Tattoo, from 3-25 August 2007, may be available from the Tattoo Ticket Sales Office at 33-34 Market Street in Edinburgh, Tel: 08707 555 118.