He then took courses at the Leningrad State Conservatory under the guidance of eminent Soviet conductors, Nicolai Malko and Alexander Gauk.
Back to Tbilisi in 1931, he quickly gained notability as a talented conductor and a promoter of classical music, and earned appraisal from several Soviet and foreign musicians.
At the age of 33, he was awarded the title of Honored Art Worker of the Georgian SSR (1936), and a year later, the Order of the Red Banner of Labour.
Mikeladze was also arrested in November 1937 and subjected to forty-eight days of interrogation and torture, being allegedly questioned and beaten also by Lavrentiy Beria.
[1] In a newly independent post-Soviet Georgia, his name has been given to the National Symphony Orchestra founded and led by Mikeladze.