He was born into a musical family in Budapest, his father Bernard Ney and his cousin, :hu:Ney Dávid|David Ney, were members of the Opera in Budapest. Tibor Ney entered the Academy of Music in Budapest, where he studied violin with Joseph Bloch and Nándor Zsolt, later his master was Jeno Hubay in his masterclass, where he had finished his violin studies receiving his diploma in 1926. From 1926, he was a member of the orchestra of the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest, but he tried to continue his career abroad, playing in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Wilhelm Furtwängler. Coming back to Hungary in 1932, he became the concertmaster of the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra of which principal conductor was Ernő Dohnányi. In May 1944, Dohnányi disbanded his ensemble, in 1945, Tibor Ney became once again the concertmaster of the reorganized Hungarian RadioSymphony Orchestra, a post he held until 1966. He played together as soloist and chamber music partner with several outstanding musicians, just among them the Hungarian pianist Annie Fischer. One of their recordings was the BachBrandenburg Concerto No. 5 conducted by Otto Klemperer. He premiered Rezső Kókai's Concerto for violin and orchestra. Theodore Strongin on The New York Times commented the disk of Béla Bartók: II. Sonata for Violin and Piano : "A Bela Bartok bonanza has recently arrived, 20-odd disks recorded in his native Hungary on the Qualiton label of Budapest...Bartók's Second Violin Sonata is unlisted in Schwann. Qualiton fills the gap with a performance by Tibor Ney, violinist and Ernő Szegedi, pianist." He founded the Hungarian String Trio with Martin Banda, Ede Banda in 1948, performing Hungarian and French chamber music with them from 1948 until 1960. Ney was appointed the professor of the violin at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. After retiring from the concert stage, he edited several works of Paganini, G. Tartini and Pietro Nardini published by Editio Musica, Budapest, and Schott Music. Gyögy Lehel, Hungarian conductor commemorates about him with these words: "he was a musician from a family, which had been enriched the music culture of our country since David Ney. But he was an outstanding violinist as well, delegate of the Hubay school, a real soloist it was not the virtuosity the final goal in his art, but to serve the music, although only a few possessed the technique on that high level as he had."
Discography (Selected)
Béla Bartók: II. Sonata for Violin and Piano , Qualiton HLP M 1552
Béla Bartók: First Rhapsody, Qualiton LP 1553
J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No, 5 in D major, Hungaroton LPX 12160