My son is looking for a liberal arts college with a strong music culture—not to major inmusic, but to have lots of different opportunities to play. He’s looking in the northeast, and knows about Tufts and Wesleyan, but is having a hard time developing a fuller list. Suggestions?
University of Rochester. Undergrads can audition for and take classes at the Eastman Conservatory (part of the University).
Is Oberlin too far west?
Add Bard and Williams. Oh, and Bennington.
We were told (not first hand experience) Bowdoin and Bates fit your bill.
@bettypy, Another vote for Williams. A vibrant and diverse music-friendly environment offering multiple performance opportunities even for non-majors.
https://music.williams.edu/category/ensembles/
Whatever his intended major your son should submit a music performance supplement with his application.
Mercer?
We live in the Northeast, but our D found the perfect fit in St. Olaf College just outside of Minneapolis— very strong academics, and an incredible music program— conservatory-level opportunities available to both music and non-music majors. Our D wanted to stay on the East Coast, but she loved the course offerings, music opportunities and inter-personal, community-oriented vibe of St Olaf so much, that she decided to attend, and hasn’t looked back!
Your son should definitely check it out. Great merit aid, too, which may make it a very attractive match/safety, depending on his stats. Merit aid made it affordable for our D, even with the flights to and from Minneapolis/St Paul.
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A second for St. Olaf. My daughter is attending, and there are many, many music opportunities.
Lawrence University, in Appleton, WI.
Skidmore College, In Saratoga Springs, NY
A third for St. Olaf – our son is starting his sophomore year there. My husband describes it as the D1 for choirs. Non-music majors make it in the upper level ensembles and thus have touring opportunities.
Lawrence, Bard, Connecticut College, Oberlin. All the Maine schools (Bates Bowdoin, Colby) have a lot of student groups, both formal and informal.
@bettypy: You asked for ANY suggestions. Yes, avoid Puritan affiliated schools.
Muhlenberg
A fourth for St Olaf 
You wrote “play”, so I am guessing he is an instrumentalist, not a singer. Is he an orchestra player? Band? Rock or jazz? You answer may make a difference.
I can speak to one important thing to consider if he is an orchestra player: some of the colleges with conservatories make it very challenging to play with the conservatory level orchestra. Oberlin, for example, has very few seats for non Con students. Oberlin does have a College of Arts and Science Orchestra, but it is at a lower level. That may be just fine for your son, but something to be aware of. I believe Rochester is the same.
Lawrence, which has a Con, is actually an exception. Non Con students can play in their orchestra and many actually do. Great little school worth checking out even though it’s not in the NE.
Williams has a professional orchestra that students can audition for - wonderful opportunity. Vassar also has a great orchestra.
Agree on the importance of understanding which opportunities are available for which students. From our visits to Oberlin, I thought the Con performance groups were only open to Con students, and there was a separate College Orchestra (but not a separate College Jazz ensemble etc). Non-Con students can audition to take lessons from Con professors but it is unusual to be accepted. Non-Con students can easily take lessons from upper level Con students.
As above, Lawrence, which also has a Con, takes a different approach, and all Con performance groups are open to all students by audition.
It also depends on the type of musically-rich environment a student is looking for. Classical? Jazz? Rock etc?
My son is going to a music college fair at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore in a couple of weeks, mainly to see some colleges that are strong in music (and not so much the straight-up music schools that will be there, like Berklee). LACs that will be there include the above-mentioned Lawrence and Oberlin, as well as Gettysburg (PA), Ithaca (NY), and DePauw (IN).
I will say that everything I’ve read myself about Lawrence and St. Olaf really does sound great as far as a college with music experience. Those definitely seem worth checking out.
Thanks, all—so so helpful!