On the 56^th anniversary of their final performance, the music of legends Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and Jiles Richardson (better known as the Big Bopper) will come to life on Wartburg College’s Neumann Auditorium stage.

John Mueller’s “Winter Dance Party” re-creates the trio’s performance on Feb. 2, 1959, at the iconic Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake. The rock ‘n’ roll pioneers died in a plane crash early the next morning a few miles outside of Clear Lake. The show begins at 7:30 p.m.

Mueller’s tribute performance is the only one endorsed by the artists’ families. “Winter Dance Party” has been performed on the “Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon” and on stages throughout the United States and Canada. The show includes hit songs like “That’ll be the Day,” “Peggy Sue,” Rave On,” “La Bamba” and many more.

 
Tickets for the Wartburg Artist Series show are $25 to $35 and available online at www.wartburg.edu/artist, by calling 319-352-8691 or at the Saemann Student Center Ticket Office weekdays from noon to 4 p.m. Youth tickets are $10. Tickets for club seating at a table at the front of the house with easy access to the show’s cash bar are $45.