In 1949, he founded Group 49 along with Kazimierz Serocki and Jan Krenz. The aim of Group 49 was to write communicative and expressive music according to the social-realistic ideology of the state. In 1956 he founded the Warsaw Autumn international contemporary music festival with Kazimierz Serocki. From 1974 he lectured at the Music Academy in Warsaw, becoming a professor and head of the Faculty of Composition in 1977. In 1979 he became a member of the Academy of Arts of the German Democratic Republic, and from 1976 chairman of the Polish section of the ISCM.

He has received many awards in Poland and abroad, including the Polish State Prize (1951, 1964, 1970), Award of the Minister of Culture and Fine Arts (1962), Musical Prize of the City of Cologne (1963), annual award of the Polish Composers’ Union for lifetime achievement (1966), Koussevitzky Award (1968), Artistic Award of the City of Warsaw (1970), Alfred Jurzykowski Prize (New York, 1971), Arthur Honegger Prize (1974), Sibelius Award (1976), and the Prime Minister’s Award. His works have won top honours at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers in Paris (1959, 1963, 1966).

He wrote both large scale symphonies, concertos (e.g. Concerto lugubre), chamber music, and was also a composer of film and theatre music, however, of most importance are numerous vocal cycles inspired by poetry, such as Glosy z oddali (Voices from Afar). Baird’s music is usually lyrical, very expressive, and intensely subjective. It is often rooted in the post-Romantic tradition, despite serial techniques.

He died in 1981, aged 53.